


Not All Treasure Is Buried

by Inkandquills, writersstudy



Series: Roleplay Fics [18]
Category: ATEEZ (Band), TOO | Ten Oriented Orchestra (Band)
Genre: Alcohol as a Coping Mechanism, Domestic Violence, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Minor Character Death, Near Death Experiences, Pirates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-19
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-17 08:21:31
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 47,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28845990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inkandquills/pseuds/Inkandquills, https://archiveofourown.org/users/writersstudy/pseuds/writersstudy
Summary: Everyone's looking for something. Hongjoong happens to find his.
Relationships: Choi Jongho/Choi San, Jeong Yunho/Jung Wooyoung, Kang Yeosang/Kim Hongjoong
Series: Roleplay Fics [18]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1256117
Comments: 38
Kudos: 56





	1. Chapter 1

Sunlight streamed through the window of the captain’s quarters, pulling Yeosang from his sleep. He groaned, stretching his arms over his head. Hongjoong was long gone, so he sat up and rubbed his eyes before getting up to get ready for the day. They were docking to pick up more supplies and he hadn’t finished his inventory list yet.

Jongho glanced up when he heard footsteps coming from the Captain’s quarters. He was glad to see it was Yeosang. He needed to get the list of supplies so he could go into town and they could sail off again. They had been at this dock a little too long.

“Give me ten minutes,” Yeosang said when he heard Jongho waiting for him, “I just have to count medicine then I’ll have my list, okay?”

Jongho nodded. “I’ll wait on the deck for you. Yunho’s prepping the sails now and we’ll be all set to disembark as soon as I get back,” he said.

Yeosang hurried downstairs to his infirmary to count out all of his pills and calculate what he needed more of. He paused when he heard scratching somewhere in the hold. Shaking his head, he added rat traps to the list.

Hongjoong stood next to Seonghwa, watching the crew work across the deck. Even though everything had mostly smoothed itself out over the last year, there were still some tensions amongst some of the crew, which explained why certain people were working on opposite ends of the ship.

“Here, Jongho, sorry,” Yeosang said, handing the list off to the younger crew member, “make sure you get poison with the traps too. I don’t want any rats getting into my medicines.”

“Will do,” Jongho said. He glanced up and down the list and nodded. “I’ll be back in a half hour.” He pulled his hood up and slipped off of the ship into town.

“Morning,” Yeosang said as he walked over to Hongjoong, “where do you need me today?”

Hongjoong smiled when Yeosang walked over to them. “I think we’re okay for now. Yunho seems like he needs to blow off some steam so I’m having him work on the repairs below deck. Once Jongho gets back, he and Mingi can help you put everything away,” he said.

“Sounds good,” Yeosang said, “I think we’ve got rats in the hold, so they can help me set the traps.”

Hongjoong sighed. “Good. Hopefully you can catch them fast. We don’t need an infestation,” he said. He hated docking for too long. They always inevitably ended up with a few rats and they couldn’t afford them getting into their supplies.

“I didn’t go looking for them, I just heard a bunch of noise when I was downstairs,” Yeosang said, “we’ll see what we catch. As long as none of them get into any of my stuff or the food, I’m not too worried.”

Hongjoong frowned. He didn’t like the sound of there being a lot of noise. “Hopefully there isn’t a family down there,” he said uncertainly.

“We’ll see what we catch,” Yeosang said again, “Seonghwa’s working on food?”

“Yeah,” Hongjoong replied, “we should have enough to get us to our next stop though.”

“I’ll go see if he needs help since you don’t need me on deck,” Yeosang said. He breezed through to the galley and greeted the first mate.

Hongjoong went back to watching his crew. It was mainly just San he was keeping an eye on. The boy had been doing well but he had quite the unexpected outburst a few days ago and no one could figure out what caused it so he was keeping a close watch on him.

Yeosang joined Seonghwa in preparing lunch until he caught sight of Jongho through the window, wheeling a cart over the dock and up onto the ship. He dried his hands and went out to help unload.

Jongho handed everything he had gotten off to Yunho and Mingi. Once he had replaced the cart on deck, he headed below to help put all the supplies away. He had learned quickly how Yeosang liked to have everything organized so he was able to put everything away rather efficiently.

“Mingi, can you put this box of bandages up on that top shelf there?” Yeosang asked, passing the package over to the taller man.

Mingi took the box and put it on the shelf that Yeosang pointed to. He frowned when he heard a noise coming from behind a couple of boxes nearby. “I think we need some of those traps over here,” he said.

“I’ll go grab the traps and the rat poison, I think they’re still up on deck,” Yeosang said. He ventured up to the top deck and rummaged through the boxes left until he found what he was looking for to take back downstairs. “I heard noise over below the galley earlier too,” he said as he handed them to Mingi.

Mingi nodded as he took the traps and poison. He started behind the boxes and was a little bit surprised to not see anything. With a shrug, he headed to the other side of the ship which was directly underneath the galley.

Yeosang’s head perked up when he heard Hongjoong calling down the hatch. “I think he needs you guys to help set sail,” he informed Mingi and Yunho, “I can finish with the traps.”

Yunho wordlessly followed Mingi up to the deck. He made sure to stay far away from San, but not so far that it was obvious he was avoiding his crewmate.

Yeosang baited and set the remaining traps, leaving a few near the galley and food stores and some closer to his infirmary. He then went above decks to see how he could help. He’d become a lot stronger since his return to sailing and was happy to help out wherever Hongjoong needed him.

“You can help out by staying with me,” Hongjoong said when Yeosang joined him. He wrapped his arms around the younger man’s waist and propped his chin on his shoulder, still keeping a close eye on his crew. “We’re almost ready to set out. I think San has been acting up lately because we’re going back to his village.” They had returned to San’s old home once before to learn about his brother but since they hadn’t turned anything up, they decided to return to learn more.

“I can’t imagine it’s been easy on him,” Yeosang said. He would offer to talk to the younger man, but San still didn’t really like him. “I’ll make sure he gets an extra portion of meat tonight.”

“No, I don’t think so,” Hongjoong said, “I’m sure that’ll help and I’ll make sure Jongho keeps an eye on him. I know he’ll get San to open up a bit

“How long until we reach his village?” Yeosang asked.

“If the weather is good, we can be there in a little under a week,” Hongjoong said, “if it’s not it could take up to two.”

“Hopefully the sea will grant us clear passage then,” Yeosang said, “we don’t need things blowing up between him and Yunho again.” Speaking of Yunho, he spied Wooyoung across the deck, resolutely ignoring the tallest crew member. He left Hongjoong with a kiss on the cheek to go intervene.

“Wooyoungie, come on,” Yunho whined, “you’ve been doing so good lately. Why are you giving me the cold shoulder all of the sudden?” He had been courting Wooyoung like he had promised for the better part of the last year and the younger boy was still all but ignoring him. He was starting to lose his patience. It didn’t take this long to win him over the first time.

“Wooyoung-ah,” Yeosang called as he walked over, “come with me to finish up lunch so Seonghwa can come help on deck.” He didn’t even acknowledge Yunho. The older man wasn’t his problem.

“Hey, I’m talking to him,” Yunho protested, “he can come to help you in a few minutes.” He drew himself up to his full height and stepped up next to Wooyoung.

“Wooyoung, are you talking to Yunho right now?” Yeosang asked. “Nope!” Wooyoung chirped, looping his arm around Yeosang’s. The doctor just raised his eyebrows at Yunho pointedly before guiding his friend off toward the galley.

Yunho glared after Yeosang. He was sick and tired of Yeosang thinking he owned the place, and Wooyoung, just because he was fucking Hongjoong. It wasn’t fair. He had been trying so hard and the younger man kept fucking everything up for him. He was determined to put an end to that once and for all. He was getting sick of this.

“He really doesn’t learn, does he?” Yeosang asked once they had reached the galley and relieved Seonghwa. “Not really,” Wooyoung replied, “this week we’re training him to give me personal space. It is not going well.”

Hongjoong watched Yunho stomp around the deck with a scowl on his face. He knew what that look meant and he was not excited for the impending explosion.

“Yeah, we are definitely not making it back to San’s village unscathed,” Yeosang said, “well, at least I got to stock up today.”

“Yunho, come navigate,” Hongjoong called. He didn’t let his crew take control of his ship often but it was the only job that could fully distract Yunho when he was on the verge of destruction. “Get us out of here and head north.”

“Yeah, I think I’m gonna lock my door tonight,” Wooyoung said. “I’ll ask Hongjoong to give Yunho first watch,” Yeosang said, “so you can get to bed before him.” They were fully out of the harbor now and the other crew members were starting to file in for lunch.

Hongjoong left Yunho at the helm and headed downstairs for lunch. “Seonghwa, when you’re done eating, can you bring Yunho up a plate? He’s not going to be joining us today,” he said. He took his seat at the head of the table and glanced around at his crew.

“Yes, captain,” Seonghwa replied, “I think San’s still up in the crow’s nest, should I call him down?”

“You can try but if he doesn’t come down, don’t push it,” Hongjoong said. “But he needs to eat,” Jongho said. “If he’s that hungry, he’ll come down,” Hongjoong said, “he knows what happens if he skips meals.” This wouldn’t be the first time San had hidden out rather than joining them to eat.

“Roger that,” Seonghwa said, grabbing Yunho’s plate and heading back out to the deck. He handed the plate to the helmsman before walking over to the main mast. “San-ah,” he called up, “it’s lunchtime.”

“That’s nice,” San replied unenthusiastically. He pulled his hat further over his eyes to block out the sun.

“Captain says if you don’t come down then you’re not eating ‘til dinner,” Seonghwa said. He knew Hongjoong had said not to push it, but that didn’t mean that he couldn’t nudge.

San rolled his eyes. “Okay. Do you have anything important to say? I’m trying to take a nap and you’re not helping,” he said.

“San-ah, I know you’re frustrated, but that doesn’t mean you take it out on the rest of us,” Seonghwa admonished.

“I’m not taking anything out on anyone but if you keep trying to talk to me, that’ll change,” San threatened. He really wasn’t in the mood for Seonghwa’s nagging.

“Alright, to hell with you then,” Seonghwa grumbled. He headed back down to the galley so he could eat his own lunch.

“I see that went well,” Hongjoong said when Seonghwa came back alone, “is he being a brat again?” San had really been doing so well lately and it was frustrating that he would revert back to his standoffishness so easily.

“He’s being an asshole is what he’s being,” Seonghwa grumbled.

“Jongho, please get him to drop the attitude tonight. I don’t care what it takes,” Hongjoong said. He knew there were very few ways for San to get his frustrations out and he didn’t want him to do anything destructive.

“I’ll do what I can, but we need to find his brother soon,” Jongho said grimly, “I’m not sure I can really keep him together much longer.”

“We’re doing the best we can but there really isn’t much to go on,” Hongjoong said, “honestly, as long as he doesn’t attack anyone on this ship and doesn’t cause too much physical damage I don’t care what he does. He should be fine as long as he’s kept away from Yunho.”

“Why don’t you assign him to navigate and have Yunho go down and help Yeosang do inventory?” Seonghwa suggested, “that should keep them as far apart as possible.”

“Yeosang, who would you rather deal with, Yunho or San?” Hongjoong asked. 

“Probably Yunho,” Yeosang said, “I can handle anger, I can’t handle snark. Plus, I doubt you’ll get Princess Sannie out of his stupid tower anyway.”

Hongjoong smirked. “Alright, after lunch I’ll send Yunho downstairs to help organize. Even if you just make him refold linens to keep him busy. Whatever keeps him out of trouble,” he said.

“I can do that,” Yeosang said, “he did make a mess of all my linens the last time he got drunk, so he really owes me some hours of laundry.”

Hongjoong shook his head. He really wondered why he hadn’t banned alcohol completely from the ship. It seemed to cause more problems than it was worth. “That’s fine. Keep him down there for the rest of the day. And we’ll see how tomorrow goes when we get there,” he said.

“Roger that, Captain,” Yeosang said. He dumped his plate in the slop sink for Jongho to wash and headed up on deck. “Yunho, the captain wants you to help me with inventory,” he said, “San-ah, you’re on watch!”

San roused slightly when he heard his name. When he registered that it was Yeosang calling him, he just groaned and rolled onto his side. “I thought inventory was all done,” Yunho said, “did they not finish putting everything away earlier?”

“You owe me time, Mr. I-Can’t-Handle-My-Mead,” Yeosang said, “I haven’t done a full inventory of the infirmary in a while anyway.” He turned back toward the main mast. “Sannie, I suggest you actually come down and navigate if you don’t want our trip to your village to take any longer than it needs to.”

“Don’t call me that,” San snapped. He was fully awake now and not happy about it. “Why am I being punished?” Yunho whined, “I wasn’t the only one who was drunk.”

“You’re the only one that projectile vomited all over my infirmary,” Yeosang said, “now come on, we have work to do.” He dragged Yunho belowdecks to get to work.

San waited until everything was quiet before climbing down from the crow’s nest. He didn’t want to go home. It wasn’t going to help anything and they were running out of time. He knew their best bet was to raid the islands to the northwest where men would hide children who have been stolen from their homes to later sell. So if the ship started heading in that direction, he didn’t know any better.

Yeosang set Yunho to work washing and folding the infirmary linens. He started doing inventory of all of his supplies, rather than just those that he frequently ran low on. 

Yunho worked quietly for a few minutes before he couldn’t help it. “Why do you keep getting in the middle of me and Wooyoungie?” he asked, “you already have Hongjoong. Why do you need to steal Wooyoung?”

“Because you need to be reminded to back off,” Yeosang said, “he needs his space and you do great for a week or so before you start inching back in and badgering him.”

“But I’ve been doing everything he wants,” Yunho whined, “and I’ve been doing everything the same as I did the first time. How am I supposed to get him back if I can’t even talk to him?”

“His needs have changed,” Yeosang said, “you hurt him a lot and he needs you to listen to him. The puppy-love intrusiveness might have worked for you the first time, but it’s not going to work now. You have way too much to make up for.”

“But I’ve been listening to him for a year. How much longer do I have to wait?” Yunho asked, “if he needs much longer, I might as well just go find someone else.” He hated being alone and if Wooyoung wasn’t the same anymore, he wasn’t sure he still wanted him back.

“If he matters to you, then the wait will be worth it,” Yeosang reminded him, “where the hell else would you find someone anyway? You’re on a boat.”

“At the next stop,” Yunho said, “it’s really not as hard to find someone as you think. I bet I could find someone who actually wants to talk to me in less time than it would take to convince Wooyoung.”

“Is someone else going to matter as much to you as Wooyoung did though?” Yeosang questioned, “I believe you when you say that you love him, and it’s been a long time. Would someone else even be able to stand up to that?”

“I don’t need them to matter,” Yunho said, “I just need someone. I’m sick of going to sleep alone. I’m sick of not having someone to talk to at the end of the day. I’m tired of this shit. I’ve done a lot for Wooyoung and if he hasn’t come back to me yet, he’s not going to.”

“No one’s going to want to do that supportive shit for you if you aren’t going to reciprocate,” Yeosang said, “Wooyoung likes you, he’s really trying to give you a fighting chance. You’re the one that keeps setting yourself back.”

“It’s not me!” Yunho said, starting to get angry, “I’ve done all that I can and it hasn’t meant shit to him! I know Wooyoung better than you ever will and I know when he’s done with something. He stopped giving me chances months ago and I don’t know why I kept putting in so much effort.”

“This is exactly why he’s giving you a hard time,” Yeosang said, “you’re giving up just because it’s more difficult and taking longer than you expected. You very nearly killed him last year, Yunho. You can’t expect him to just easily heal from that.”

“I didn’t almost kill him!” Yunho said angrily, throwing the box he was carrying onto the ground and rounding on Yeosang. “I’m not giving up because it’s taking too long. I’m giving up because I’m sick of wasting my time. Even if I get him back, he’s never going to be my Wooyoungie again. Why do you even care what I do? You should be happy I’m going to leave him alone.”

“I’m the one that had to nurse him back to health, Yunho, you think I’m stupid?” Yeosang barked back, “and yeah, I would be happy if you left him alone, because that’s less chance that I’ll have to do it again, but  _ he  _ wouldn’t be and that’s what matters. He wants you to keep trying.”

“Well fuck him. If he wants me back that badly maybe things would have changed a little but they haven’t,” Yunho snapped, “a whole year and everything’s the same. Wants me to keep trying my ass. If he cares that much, he’ll put in some effort too.”

“Why should he?” Yeosang asked, “ _ you  _ hurt  _ him _ .  _ You’re  _ the one with shit to make up for. Maybe you should try to actually listen to him when he talks instead of just talking back and shutting him down. A relationship isn’t all about you.”

“And it’s not all about him!” Yunho countered, “my Wooyoungie used to actually care about me and how I was doing. Now, he doesn’t do anything except hide from me. I’ve paid my debt and I’ve listened to what he wanted. I don’t owe him anything anymore.”

“Then stop pursuing him,” Yeosang said with a shrug, “if you care so little and you’ve paid your debt, leave him alone.”

“Fine,” Yunho said quietly, “he’s all yours.” He would admit that he was a little sad, but it really didn’t hurt that much considering he had really lost Wooyoung a year ago.

Yeosang just sighed and shook his head. He was about to retort when he heard one of the rat traps go off. “Ha!” he exclaimed, “I finally got one of the bastards. Can you go check that for me?” That would give Yunho a minute to cool off.

Yunho grabbed a bucket and went over to the trap. He frowned when he didn’t find a rat in it. “There’s nothing in here. It must have been set up wrong and snapped on its own,” he said. He reset the trap and put it back where it was.

“Were the poison pellets still in it?” Yeosang asked, frowning.

“Some were spilled on the side but I’m not sure if it was all of them,” Yunho said, “it’s all fixed now though.”

“Weird,” Yeosang said, shaking his head, “well, I’m done in here, so if you’re done with the linens, we can start inventorying and organizing everything else we got. Hopefully, we can figure out where the stupid rats are hiding too.”

Yunho wordlessly went back over to Yeosang to help him organize. It really just consisted of him moving things where Yeosang told him too, which was fine. He didn’t need to think much about it and he could focus on other things, like what he would say if Wooyoung tried to approach him.

Yeosang frowned as he glanced at his list then looked out over the crates sitting in the hold. “We’re supposed to have one more crate of clothes,” he said, “is there one of these that hasn’t been cracked yet?”

“Nope. I’ve looked in them all and that’s all there is for clothes,” Yunho said.

“Is there a cracked crate that didn’t get counted?” Yeosang asked, “Jongho’s invoice says that there were three crates but I only have two marked down.”

“Nope, they're all counted,” Yunho said, “he must have written it wrong.”

“I guess he could have, but that’s not like him,” Yeosang said dubiously, “maybe one of the crates we got last time accidentally got double counted.”

Yunho huffed. “I’ll go count again,” he grumbled. He started walking through the crates, double checking each once and seeing if any of them had clothes in it. As he got near the back of the room, he noticed that some of the other crates had already been opened again.

Yeosang ran through his checklist one more time and mentally counted the crates around them. It added up to the right number, but he somehow was still short a crate of clothing. He hoped that it had just gotten mismarked.

Yunho hadn’t found the crate of clothes. He kept going further, wondering if it had gotten put away somehow. When he kept walking he found another trap that must have been tripped before they came down here. All of the pellets were still there and there was no rat.

The math just wasn’t puzzling out. Yeosang scratched his head. They had the right total number of crates. Of those crates, three were supposed to hold clothing, but they only had two with clothing, and no extras of anything else. How the hell did that work?

Yunho fixed the trap again and went back to Yeosang. “I can’t find it. Ask Jongho. He left some of the crates open back there. And he didn’t do a very good job setting up the traps. Another one was closed with nothing in it,” he said.

“He didn’t set them up, I did,” Yeosang said, “and I know how to set those traps. I’ve literally never had them accidentally trip before. Did you close those crates?”

“Well you set them up wrong this time,” Yunho said, “and all the crates I saw open are closed now.”

“Alright, fine, I’ll ask Jongho about it later,” Yeosang said, “you can head back above now, I don’t need you anymore.”

Yunho wordlessly headed back above deck and reported to Seonghwa to get instructions for where to work next. He was glad that inventory hadn’t taken that long.

Yeosang finished up his inventory and headed back into the infirmary. There were still a few more packages that needed to be opened and put away before he could head back on deck and bother Hongjoong. 

Hongjoong was glad to see that everything seemed to be going well after lunch. Well that was until he realized they were off course. He stalked up to the helm and angrily sent San to work somewhere else. Or at least tried to. 

Yeosang finally finished his organizing and headed abovedecks. He had the perfect timing to miss the snap of a rat trap and the yelp of something caught that definitely wasn’t a rat. When he reached the top deck, he found San and Hongjoong in a standoff. “What’s going on here?” he asked.

“San was just going to work on scrubbing the deck,” Hongjoong said, tone deadly. “I’m not doing useless work,” San snapped back, “you wanted me here and if there’s anyone that can get us where we need to go the fastest it’s me.” “Do you think I don’t know these seas? We’re off track, San. You’re sabotaging this and I don’t care why but it ends here,” Hongjoong growled.

Yeosang placed a hand on Hongjoong’s chest and turned his attention toward San. “If we’re not going to your village, then where are we going?”

“We’re going to my village,” San said forcefully, “this is going to take a shorter amount of time. Trust me.” “San, you haven’t done anything trustworthy in your life,” Hongjoong said, losing his patience, “if you’re not going to tell us the truth, I don’t want to talk to you. And if you don’t want our help, I don’t want to waste any more of my time looking for your brother.”

“Hongjoong, shut up,” Yeosang said, “San, we want to help you find your brother, we really do, but if you can’t be open with us about what you think, then it’s going to take a lot longer than necessary.”

“I think you all are useless and unhelpful,” San said plainly, “I’m taking us somewhere where we have an actual shot of finding him rather than wasting more time we don’t have.”

“Great. That’s fantastic,” Yeosang said, “what is it?”

“You’ll find out when we get there,” San said. “San, I’m giving you one last chance to come clean before you regret lying to us,” Hongjoong snapped. San just met his captain’s eyes. “There’s islands where men harbor children they’ve kidnapped until they sell them off. If you keep sailing in this direction, you’ll run right into them,” he said before walking away.

Yeosang rolled his eyes as San walked away. “I swear, it’s like he doesn’t even want help sometimes,” he grumbled.

“I think he knows it’s hopeless so he just keeps running us in circles so he doesn’t have to accept what happened,” Hongjoong said, “I doubt those islands exist like he says. I would have heard something about them before today.”

Yeosang sighed. “I don’t know that any of us are prepared for the day it finally hits him,” he said.

“I honestly don’t think he’ll do anything to any of us,” Hongjoong said, “but I doubt even Jongho will be able to save him from himself.”

Yeosang just shook his head. “Poor kid,” he said quietly, “I can’t imagine the pain he’s in.”

Hongjoong smiled sadly. “He just has to learn to trust the supports he has. Granted it’s been years and Jongho’s the only one that’s made progress with him and it’s only been a sliver. I think it's just his normal at this point,” he said.

Yeosang sighed softly. “And to think I was going to invite you down to see how clean my infirmary is,” he said.

“I’ll go down first thing tomorrow morning,” Hongjoong promised, “I don’t want to leave Seonghwa alone up here with the two of them.”

“That was a euphemism,” Yeosang informed Hongjoong, “but yes, that’s probably smart. Although I’m sure San will just end up in the crow’s nest again anyway.”

Hongjoong pouted at Yeosang. “Probably,” he mumbled, “I don’t want him to keep skipping meals though.”

“We’ll make sure Jongho takes him his dinner tonight,” Yeosang said, “that’s pretty much all we can do at this point.”

Hongjoong nodded. He wrapped Yeosang in his arms and let his head rest on his lover’s shoulder. “Go get some rest until then. I know you’ve had a long day,” he said.

Yeosang hummed. He pulled his head back to peck Hongjoong’s lips before heading down to the captain’s quarters. He slid back into bed with a sigh.

Hongjoong took his place at the helm. When Seonghwa returned to the deck, he called his first mate over and told him about the conversation he had just had with San.

Yeosang was worried about San. He didn’t want another half-assed mutiny, and he was certain it would tip either Yunho or Hongjoong over the edge. The captain had been doing a lot better, but he still had his moments.

“I’m really not sure what’s gotten into him lately,” Hongjoong said, “but keep a close eye on him. I have a feeling he’s close to snapping.”

“Hopefully Jongho can get him sorted tonight,” Seonghwa said, “but I’ll keep tabs on him anyway.”

“Thank you,” Hongjoong said, “I guess we were overdue for one of his stunts. He had been doing good for so long though. I’m actually kind of proud of him.”

“Yunho too,” Seonghwa said, “it’s been ages since he’s really lashed out at Wooyoung.”

“I know. He was getting a bit testy today though. I’ll have to ask Yeosang how he was downstairs,” Hongjoong said, “it seems like wherever one of them starts acting up the other does too. I don’t know why they can’t time their meltdowns better.”

“They feed off of each other,” Seonghwa said, shaking his head. .

Hongjoong nodded solemnly. “You’d think they would have found a more productive way to deal with each other and yet,” he said, “oh well. We’ll keep an eye on both of them and make sure they don’t kill each other.”

“There’s gotta be something we can do to reverse psychology them into liking each other,” Seonghwa said with a sigh.

Hongjoong thought for a moment. “I think you might be onto something,” he said, “I’ll talk to Jongho and have him start working on San tonight.”

“They’re really much more similar than they are different,” Seonghwa said, “they’d be unstoppable if they weren’t at each other’s throats all the time.”

“We just have to make them think it’s their idea to be friends,” Hongjoong said, “or be friends again. I think they just need one night to get all their frustrations out with each other, however that may be, and then start over.”

“That backfired last time,” Seonghwa reminded Hongjoong.

“But if it’s their own doing it might not this time,” Hongjoong said, “I doubt they’ll ever talk to each other peacefully again.”

“So what, we let them beat each other up and hope it fixed things?” Seonghwa asked dubiously. 

“They need to get their anger and frustration out in a productive way,” Hongjoong said, “I’m not sure exactly what that way is other than letting them go at each other.”

“If San’s telling the truth about these child traffickers, they could have a go at them too,” Seonghwa said, “that might be even more effective.”

“That’s not a bad idea. I almost hope he is just so we aren’t sailing in circles for no reason,” Hongjoong said.

“I really hope we find that kid soon,” Seonghwa said, “there’s not many more places we can look.”

“I hope so too. I think he’s starting to understand that there really isn’t that much more we can do to find him,” Hongjoong said quietly, “and if he was kidnapped by slavers there’s no telling where he was shipped off to or even if he’s still alive.”

“If we can’t find him this time, I think we need to sit San down and make him face the reality,” Seonghwa said.

“Good luck with that,” Hongjoong said, “have Mingi and Jongho close. He’s going to flip and I don’t want him to hurt himself.”

“There’s only so long that we can look for someone before we have to accept what probably happened,” Seonghwa said gravely, “I mean, it’s been years. The likelihood of this kid still being alive is slim to none.”

“There’s no way the kid is still alive,” Hongjoong said, “I should have told San from the beginning that he would never be able to find him but he was a kid. I didn’t want to break his heart but I think that would have been better for him. He would have been home and safe.”

“I mean, shit, if his brother so easily got taken by slavers, I don’t know that home really was safe,” Seonghwa reasoned, “and he is a good kid. He’s just...a little lost right now.”

“That’s true,” Hongjoong acknowledged, “but he’s been lost for years. You know how sweet and determined he was when he first joined.”

“Grief is a powerful thing,” Seonghwa said, “and not having closure is almost worse than knowing for sure that someone is gone. Look at how much you’ve improved since Yeosang arrived and you learned what really happened to Kenta.”

Hongjoong nodded. While learning what had happened to his lover was incredibly painful, it had been helpful to have some closure. “I wish we could promise him closure,” Hongjoong said, “but I don’t know what else we can do to make this easier for him.”

“We’ll see how this landing goes and go from there,” Seonghwa said, “I’m going to start supper.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Hongjoong said, “I’ll have the crew set her up for the night and then we’ll be down.”

Seonghwa clapped the captain on the shoulder and headed off to the galley. Hopefully, this trip would turn things around, for everyone.

Hongjoong barked his orders to his crew and watched them closely. Once the ship was set for the night he sent everyone down to the galley. He was surprised that San had decided to join them, although he was sure the boy would retire early for the night.

Yeosang was roused from his nap when Hongjoong called them to the galley. When he got there, he took his seat next to the captain and was surprised to find San across from him.

“I’m glad you decided to join us, San,” Hongjoong said. He was met with silence. “Do you have any idea how long it will take to get to your islands?” he asked instead. “Five days,” San replied shortly.

“We should come up with a plan then,” Yeosang said, glancing around, “if this island is full of slavers like you say, then it’s probably pretty well defended.”

“Just prepare to defend the ship if need be,” San said, “I’m the only one that will be getting close enough to deal with anyone. If I find my brother I’ll be able to sneak him back to the boat without any problems.”

“And what’s our plan if we don’t find him?” Mingi asked, cheeks bulging with food, “torture a guy?”

San’s hand tightened into a fist. “Don’t worry about it,” he growled darkly, “we’re going to find him or we’re going to find information.”

“We’re on your side,” Seonghwa said, “the more information about this you can give us, the more coordinated and efficient we can be.”

“I don’t know anything, okay?” San burst out, “I just know these islands exist and that they’ll know where my brother is.”

“Well, whatever your plan is, we need to know,” Seonghwa said, “if we can’t coordinate and have your back, then someone’s going to get hurt.”

“No ones going to get hurt,” San said, “the plan is that we’re going to get the ship as close as is safe. I’m going to sneak in to look for my brother or get some information on where he is and then I’ll sneak back out to the ship. No one else has to be involved at all. Unless the ship gets attacked for some reason. But if we’re smart enough when we get there that won’t happen.”

“I don’t like the idea of you going on alone,” Seonghwa said, glancing at the captain, “I think you should take Yunho with you.”

“Take Yunho?” San asked incredulously, “absolutely the fuck not. We’d be screwed.” “Hey, fuck you,” Yunho snapped, “you think you’re going to be able to go in there on your own and be the hero? No way. You’ll get killed and then we’ll have to come anyway to get your body.”

“Yunho’s a better fighter than Mingi and tall enough to be a lookout as well,” Seonghwa said, “he’s your best option.”

“Wouldn’t you rather have your best fighter on the ship then in case anything happens?” San asked, “besides since when the fuck do you care about me doing something alone? Do you not trust me?”

“We’ll make up the difference with manpower,” Seonghwa said, “it’s not that we don’t trust you, San, it’s that we want you to stay safe.” He looked to the captain to back him up.

“You’re setting yourself up to get killed, San, and I can’t let that happen,” Hongjoong said, “I know this is your brother and that you feel responsible for finding him but that doesn’t mean you can’t have some help. Besides, if you don’t know what to expect going in, it’s better to have a second pair of eyes around. Yunho’s going with you and that’s final.”

“I can fix you guys if you get hurt, San,” Yeosang commented, “I can’t bring you back from the dead.”

“Fine, fine, I’ll take Yunho,” San said, if only to get everyone off his back. “It’ll be safer for you,” Jongho piped up, “and it’s one more person to help protect your brother when you find him.” San simply nodded.

“You have no idea what condition you may find him in,” Seonghwa said with a nod, “you can’t get him here safely and fight off slavers on your own. You’re only one person, San.”

“I said I’ll take Yunho,” San snapped. He dropped his utensils and pushed his plate away. He didn’t know what more they wanted from him. “San, we don’t need an attitude. Come on, you’re an adult now. Start acting like one,” Hongjoong said, “we’re just trying to make sure you get back on this ship alive.”

Yeosang laid a hand on Hongjoong’s forearm. “That’s enough,” he said gently, “San agreed, so let’s drop the topic, alright?”

Hongjoong sighed. He hated how thick San was sometimes. They really bent over backwards for the boy and he still fought them so much. It was frustrating.

Yeosang could tell it was going to be a tense couple of days. He really hoped that San found his brother.

Once dinner was finished, Jongho helped Seonghwa clean up the galley while everyone retired to their rooms. Hongjoong collapsed into his bed with a groan. Today had been a really long day and he wasn’t looking forward to another week of this.

Yeosang followed Hongjoong to his quarters to grab a jacket for his night watch. “You okay?” He asked. 

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just worried,” Hongjoong mumbled, “I have a gut feeling that this isn’t going to go well even with him not going alone.”

“We’ll fight off whatever we need to,” Yeosang said, “Jongho’s strong, Mingi’s big, Seonghwa and I are both military trained, and you’re crazy. Wooyoung’s even able to hold his own now. We’ll be okay.”

Hongjoong looked up at Yeosang with a blank expression on his face. “I’m crazy? Really? That’s the best you can think of? Thanks, Sang,” he grumbled.

“You are,” Yeosang said with a laugh, “absolute batshit in a fight. I don’t know how else to describe it.”

Hongjoong sighed and let his head fall back against the bed. “Me being crazy isn’t what wins fights,” he reminded Yeosang. He wasn’t about to have his skills overshadowed because of his fighting technique. 

“No, it’s not, that’s not what I’m saying,” Yeosang said, “I suppose I could say that you’re all adrenaline. Once the fight starts, you don’t stop, no matter how hurt you get. In fact, I would say that getting hurt just makes you fight harder. The fight stops before you do most of the time.”

“A captain should never exit a fight before his crew,” Hongjoong said, “I’m not crazy for defending my men. Everyone in my position does the same thing.”

“It’s just your energy, Joong, I don’t know how else to say it,” Yeosang said, finally grabbing the jacket he’d come for. “I’ll be back in a few hours.”


	2. Chapter 2

The next few days went as expected. San was still standoffish and snippy but thankfully didn’t pull any major stunts. As promised, within five days they had arrived at the islands. And as San said, there seemed to be some kind of operation being carried out here. While there weren’t many ships around, probably to keep the islands inconspicuous, it was clearly heavily guarded on land.

Seonghwa was a bit nervous to send San and Yunho onto the island together, but they had no choice. They dropped anchor in a hidden cove, away from what seemed to be the majority of the activity. “Be back by midnight, whether you find anything or not,” he instructed them, “we can always try again tomorrow.”

“We will,” San promised. He clipped his favorite knife to his belt and was sure to slip an extra one into his boot. “Come on, Yunho, I don’t want to waste any time.” And with that, they slipped off the boat and onto the first island.

Seonghwa watched nervously as the two disappeared into the woods. All they could do now was wait.

“They’re going to be okay,” Hongjoong assured his first mate, “San is too determined. And I know he won’t leave Yunho behind no matter what happens.”

“He’d better not,” Seonghwa grumbled, “Wooyoungie, can you take over the crow’s nest for today? That’s the best vantage point to see anyone coming and it’ll keep you out of harm’s way.”

Hongjoong watched Wooyoung scale the crow’s nest. “He’s come a long way,” he commented to Seonghwa, “I never thought he would be such a valuable crew member.”

“He really wants to stay here,” Seonghwa said with a shrug, “I can’t imagine why, but as long as he’s pulling his weight, I won’t say no.”

“He can stay as long as he’s useful,” Hongjoong agreed, “I don’t really want to know what Yunho would do if we tried to get rid of him anyway.”

“I’ll take care of things up here, captain,” Seonghwa said, “why don’t you go get some rest or find Yeosang or something?”

“Okay,” Hongjoong said uncertainly, “be prepared to sail at any moment. The first sign of them, we need to move out.”

“Yes, Hongjoong, I know,” Seonghwa said, rolling his eyes. He pushed the captain off toward his quarters.

“Sang?” Hongjoong called as he entered his chambers, “are you in here?”

“I’m here,” Yeosang said from where he was hidden behind the doors of the wardrobe, “Seonghwa kick you off deck?”

“Yeah,” Hongjoong said with a pout, “I don’t know why. I haven’t done anything and I don’t like not being able to keep a watch out for Yunho and San.”

“That’s probably why,” Yeosang said, “you being anxious is probably stressing him out.” He closed the wardrobe, pulling a shirt over his head.

“I can’t just sit down here and do nothing! My men are out there in God’s knows what condition. They could be dead right now and I would have no idea!” Hongjoong said desperately.

“You need a distraction,” Yeosang said, “y’know, you still have to come down to see how clean and quiet my infirmary is now.”

Hongjoong sighed and walked across the room towards Yeosang. “Your infirmary better be spotless if it’s going to distract me enough,” he said.

Yeosang took Hongjoong by the hand and dragged him down into the hold. He opened the door to his infirmary and pulled the captain inside, immediately closing it and pushing him against it.

Hongjoong grunted as his back hit the door. “It’s been so long since you’ve brought me down here,” he commented.

Yeosang hummed. “You haven’t gotten yourself hurt lately,” he replied.

Hongjoong hummed. “I figured you had enough work to do and I haven’t wanted to add to it,” he said, “but enough chit chat. I believe you had something to show me?”

Yeosang grabbed the captain by the collar of his shirt and surged forward to kiss him. They hadn’t had time to do this in a while and he was feeling pent up.

Hongjoong groaned into Yeosang’s mouth. It had been so long since they had time to themselves. He wrapped his arms around the younger man and pulled him close.

Yeosang let himself melt into Hongjoong. “You’re really hot when you order people around, y’know,” he mumbled.

Hongjoong smirked. “I know,” he said, ego blossoming, “is that why you like spending so much time with me on deck? You like getting all riled up listening to me order everyone around?”

“Maybe,” Yeosang said coyly, “could be that, or it could be me wanting to take you down a peg instead.”

“Oh? And how exactly are you going to do that?” Hongjoong asked with a smirk. He subtly ground his hips into Yeosang’s.

Yeosang pulled the captain around and made to push him back onto the cot when he paused. “Stuff is missing,” he said.

Hongjoong glanced around. “It’s fine. We can figure out who took what after and punish them,” he said, reaching for Yeosang again.

“No, no one’s been down here since Yunho and I did inventory the other day,” Yeosang said, pushing Hongjoong’s hand away, “and no one’s gotten hurt anyway, at least not enough to need two rolls of bandages and a canister of saline.”

“You know stuff gets miscounted sometimes. Come on, Sang, we can find it later,” Hongjoong said. He did not like the idea of Yeosang leaving him out to dry after getting him all worked up.

“No, I had these all perfectly counted and lined up,” Yeosang insisted, “Joong, I don’t think we have rats. I think we have a stowaway.”

Hongjoong frowned. “Fine, let’s look. If you’re right, we might be able to use them as a bartering chip if something happens to San or Yunho,” he said.

“This might explain why our crate count was off the other day too,” Yeosang mused. There wasn’t much he could use to fight with down here, but he grabbed a scalpel just in case.

“Start checking that side. If you see any sign of movement, call me over. Don’t approach if there is someone down here,” Hongjoong said. He really hoped Yeosang was wrong. He did not have time to deal with a stowaway.

Yeosang headed in the direction the captain pointed. “Make sure to check in the crates too,” he said. He rounded one row of crates and was surprised to find a triggered trap, along with a trail of blood. He followed it, staying careful in case the stowaway decided to jump out at him.

Hongjoong started on the other side of the room. He opened each crate, rummaging through to the bottom to make sure nothing was hidden. He had gone through nearly all the crates and still hadn’t found any sign of life.

Yeosang finally found what he was looking for: a crate with a cracked lid and a couple of bloody fingerprints. “Joong,” he called softly, “I think I found it.”

Hongjoong crossed the room to where Yeosang was. He examined the crate and the fingerprints and scowled. “Whoever’s in here, show yourself,” he called out, “you have ten seconds and you’ll regret it if I have to find you myself.”

When nothing happened, Yeosang carefully reached out and lifted the lid on the crate, opening it toward Hongjoong so he could use the wood to protect himself.

Hongjoong grabbed the linens on the top roughly, unsurprised to hear a yelp as he did so. He tossed the linens aside and reached for the mop of brown hair hiding beneath them. He yanked the boy out of the crate roughly and threw him onto the ground. He was about to start yelling when a sob from inside the crate caught his attention. They had two stowaways?

Yeosang dropped the lid of the crate to the side when he heard a body hit the ground. His eyes widened. “Hongjoong,” he said carefully, “that’s...that’s a child.”

Hongjoong faltered for a moment before regaining his composure. A child had snuck onto his ship? “Why didn't you come out when I said to?” he asked, desperately trying to keep his voice even.

Yeosang wasn’t paying attention to Hongjoong, instead distracted by the crying from inside the crate. There was another boy there, clearly younger than the first and injured as well. He supposed that this was his “rat.”

“Answer me,” Hongjoong growled when the boy stayed silent. The boy flinched back, eyes not leaving the floor. “We didn’t want to get caught,” he replied hoarsely. “You snuck onto my ship, what the fuck did you think was going to happen? You were gonna make it all the way to your destination without being found?” Hongjoong snapped.

“Did either of you ingest the pellets in the traps?” Yeosang asked, interrupting the captain. The younger boy had flinched back when Yeosang had reached to help him out of the crate, so he wanted to make sure that he didn’t need absolutely immediate medical attention.

“No, we’re not idiots,” the first boy snarked, finding some courage. “Hey,” Hongjoong scolded, cracking him in the head, “you aren’t in a position to be mouthing off.”

“Hongjoong,” Yeosang scolded, “let’s get them up on deck at least, alright?”

“Seonghwa’s going to love this,” Hongjoong snarked. He reached down and hauled the first boy to his feet by his upper arm. He had to admit he was impressed by how the tall boy had managed to fold himself up so much to fit inside the crate.

Yeosang finally managed to get the younger boy out of the crate and used a hand on his back to guide him behind Hongjoong and the older boy. 

“Seonghwa, come here,” Hongjoong called, “we found these rats hiding downstairs. What do you think we should do with them?”

“Feed them,” Yeosang argued incredulously, “Hongjoong, these are  _ children _ .”

“They snuck onto our ship, stole our supplies, and continued to try to hide when we were looking for them,” Hongjoong countered, “they’re  _ rats _ .”

“They’re  _ kids _ ,” Yeosang said again, “and one of them is injured. We don’t even know how long they’ve been on board. I say we feed them and clean them up and let them off at our next stop after this. We don’t need to allow them to stay on board, but I’m  _ not _ letting you dump them on an island filled with child traffickers.” He didn’t miss how both boys reacted almost violently to the phrase.

“Fine,” Hongjoong said, “go patch them up and give them a little food. But they stay downstairs in separate cells. And if either of them try any funny business, we dump them here.” He turned to the two boys. “Do  _ not  _ make me regret my generosity.”

Yeosang rolled his eyes and waited for Hongjoong to stalk off. “Hwa, can you get them some food?” he asked, “I’m going to take them to the brig and try and patch up their injuries.”

Once the angry man had left, Jisu rushed back over to Woonggi. “It’s going to be okay. We’re going to be okay,” he whispered soothingly.

“I’m Yeosang,” the doctor introduced himself, “I’m gonna take you downstairs and I’ll take a look at your hand, okay?”

Jisu pulled Woonggi behind him, creating a barrier between him and Yeosang. “Are we actually getting food?” he asked.

“Yes,” Yeosang answered, “the captain won’t say no to me, don’t worry.”

Jisu was skeptical but so far Yeosang had stuck up for them so he had some hope. “He’s not going to send us off here, right?” he asked nervously. They had fought so hard to escape. He didn’t know what he would do if he was thrown right back into the grip of the horrible men who stole him from his home.

“No,” Yeosang said firmly, “we’re only here to rescue someone. I won’t let him dump two more kids into this.”

Jisu nodded. All of his instincts were telling him not to trust Yeosang but there was something about him. He quietly followed the man downstairs, making sure to stay in between him and Woonggi.

Yeosang took them to the infirmary first and had them sit on the cot. “I want to look at his hand first and then I’ll look over any other injuries you have,” he said as he turned away to gather what he needed.

“I don’t have any,” Jisu said immediately. He stayed right next to Woonggi, a strong arm wrapped around the boy’s shoulders. “He’s going to help your hand not hurt anymore.”

Yeosang pulled his stool over and sat down, reaching for the younger boy’s arm. “What are your names?” he asked.

“Doesn’t matter,” Jisu mumbled. He didn’t trust Yeosang that much. If they did get thrown back to those men, it was better to go without their names.

“Well, I’d like to stop thinking of you as the younger one and the older one,” Yeosang explained, “will you at least tell me how old you are?”

“Why do you care?” Jisu asked, “it’s not like we’re going to be here for that long.”

“I’m trying to help you,” Yeosang reminded him, “you could at least give me something.”

“You can call me Jinsong and you can call him Jaedol,” Jisu supplied. Those weren’t their real names by any means but Yeosang didn’t need to know that.

“It’s very nice to meet you,” Yeosang said kindly. He unwrapped the bandage sloppily tied around Jaedol’s hand and inspected the cuts that the rat trap had left. “You actually treated this very well, I’m impressed,” he said, “I’m just going to clean it out and put some ointment on it, then we’ll wrap it back up.”

“Everyone knows basic first aid,” Jisu said, unimpressed, “it’s not hard to clean out a cut, even if you don’t have the best supplies.”

“It isn’t that typical for someone your age to execute first aid so well,” Yeosang said gently, “especially while trying to stay hidden.”

“You don’t even know how old I am,” Jisu countered, “it’s not like it’s that impressive. Everyone in my shoes knows first aid. It’s how we’ve all stayed alive.”

“Based on your height and your voice and the assumption that you’ve been away from home for a while, I’d guess you’re around sixteen or seventeen,” Yeosang replied, “Jaedol is a little harder to guess, because he’s younger, but I would guess that he’s somewhere between ten and fourteen.”

Jisu stiffened but made sure to keep his face neutral. He didn’t want Yeosang to know he was right. It was dangerous if he figured out their ages. Because then he would know how much they were worth.

“I used to be a doctor in the military,” Yeosang explained, “which is about as close to medical school as you can get for no money.”

Jisu’s eyes widened. “You were in the military?” he asked nervously, “so you’ve seen a lot.”

“I’ve seen quite a bit, yes,” Yeosang said, “I’ve been out for about four years now. The first mate, the one who went to get you food, he was in as well. We were on the same ship, actually. We’re the only two in this crew though.”

“Where did the rest of you come from?” Jisu asked. He needed to know who he was up against in case anything happened.

“I’m not entirely positive,” Yeosang admitted, “mostly just the captain inviting people aboard, I think. He was trying to build a crew and this was who he found.”

Jisu hummed. “So only two of you are trained,” he commented. That wouldn’t be a problem. He had bested stronger men before.

“Only two of us are military trained,” Yeosang corrected, “I wouldn’t suggest trying your hand against anyone on this ship, least of all the captain.”

“You don’t mess with us and I won’t do anything,” Jisu said, “and no offense to your captain, but his bark seems worse than his bite.”

“He can be absolutely ruthless when he wants to be,” Yeosang said, expression darkening.

Jisu’s eyes widened. “I’m sure,” he said, uncertainly. He knew there was more to Yeosang than wanting to clean them up and feed them. All men of the sea had dark sides they didn’t reveal until it was too late.

“Alright, all set,” Yeosang said as he finished rewrapping Jaedol’s hand, “anywhere else that hurts?”

Woonggi glanced nervously at Jisu. “You can show him,” the older boy said. Woonggi shook his head and pointed at Jisu. “No, no. Show him your shoulder,” Jisu said. Woonggi pouted but obediently moved his shirt to reveal an old gash on his shoulder.

Yeosang frowned. That looked pretty nasty. “Can you take your shirt off so I can get a better look?” he asked carefully.

Woonggi whined and looked up at Jisu. “It’s okay,” the older boy assured. He helped Woongi out of his shirt and moved it to the side where it wouldn’t get any dirtier.

Yeosang scooted a bit closer to his patient and carefully prodded at the gash. “It doesn’t seem infected,” he said, “I’m going to move your arm around a bit, so let me know if it hurts, okay?”

Woonggi just sat there quietly while Yeosang moved his arm around until the man tried to raise it above his head. He yelped in pain and pulled his arm back, cradling it against his chest. His eyes darted nervously between Jisu and Yeosang.

Yeosang furrowed his eyebrows. That certainly wasn’t good. Hopefully, it was just from the placement of the cut. “Do you remember how you got this?” he asked as he reached for one of the many salves on the shelf next to him.

Woonggi sniffed and dropped his eyes. “He got sent back early one day,” Jisu said quietly, “so they beat him. This was the worst of the injuries. The rest is mostly healed now.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Yeosang said quietly, “this should help the cut heal and will soothe the muscle pain. I’ll look at it again in a few days. In the meantime, try not to raise it, okay?”

Woonggi nodded. He scooted over to Jisu and curled against the older boy, hiding his face in his neck. “It’s alright,” Jisu said soothingly, “your shoulder is gonna be all better soon.”

“Any other aches and pains?” Yeosang asked, this time directing his attention to Jinsong.

“No, that was it. He didn’t get an infection from anything else,” Jisu said. He peeled Woongi off of himself just long enough to help the boy back into his shirt before letting him cling on again.

“And you?” Yeosang asked pointedly, “you won’t be able to help him if you get sick so you might as well let me treat you.”

“I’m fine,” Jisu said, “they haven’t done anything to me recently enough that would be treatable.”

Yeosang decided to let it be for now. “The captain wants you in the brig,” he said as he stood up, “and that’s  _ not  _ something I can fight him on. There should be food for you there though.”

“As long as we're together, I don’t care where you put us,” Jisu said. He helped Woonggi stand up and once again put himself between Yeosang and the younger boy.

Yeosang guided the two boys to the brig. He knew Hongjoong had said separate cells, but he chose to ignore that part for now. He put them in the same cell just as Seonghwa arrived with what looked like a decent warm meal.

Jisu perked up when he smelled the food. It was more food than both of them had eaten in weeks. He was glad Woonggi would finally be able to have a decent meal.

“Eat up,” Yeosang said, “I’ll be back down to check on you at some point tonight.”

Jisu nodded. He took the plate and helped Woonggi sit down. He fed the boy a little bit at a time, not wanting him to get sick. He snuck a few bites here and there but he gave most of the food to Woonggi.

Yeosang finally ventured upstairs and went to find Hongjoong. He hoped that the captain had cooled off by now.

“Well, what’s the deal with them?” Hongjoong asked when Yeosang joined them, “where did they come from? How did they get on our ship? What were they planning?”

“I don’t know for certain, but it sounds like they probably escaped from the slave trade,” Yeosang said with a sigh, “the older one mentioned the younger one being beaten for being sent back from somewhere early.”

“That’s all you found out?” Hongjoong asked, deadpan, “come on, Yeosang. What even was the point?”

“They’re suspicious,” Yeosang said defensively, “the good thing is that he’s not a good liar, but it still took me forever to get fake names out of him. You should’ve seen his face when I guessed how old they were. They’re expecting us to hurt them and they’re not going to give us any extra firepower.”

Hongjoong rolled his eyes. “I’ll have Jongho get the information I need out of them,” he said, “in the meantime, you are not to see them again. I don’t need you getting attached.”

“I have to check on his hand,” Yeosang protested, “he could lose it if we’re not careful and that would be a much bigger problem for us.”

“You go only as often as you need to and you do not make small talk,” Hongjoong said, “understood? They’re prisoners as far as I’m concerned.”

Yeosang rolled his eyes. “Fine,” he relented.

“Thank you,” Hongjoong said, “now come on, I think you have an infirmary to show me.”

“You know that was an excuse the whole time,” Yeosang said, “I’m not in the mood now. I’m going to relieve Wooyoung.”

Hongjoong sighed. “Whatever,” he grumbled. He returned to his room after that and collapsed into bed. Those fucking kids really had to pick his ship to hide on.

Yeosang called Wooyoung down from the crow’s nest and climbed up himself. He hung out up there for the rest of the afternoon, until he overheard Seonghwa telling Jongho to go get information out of the boys in the brig.

Jongho headed down to the brig with a couple of pieces of bread. He found the boys curled together in the back of their cell. He put the plate on the floor and slid it as far into the cell as possible. “I’ll bring more at dinner time,” he promised.

Jisu looked between the bread and the sailor suspiciously before finally reaching for the plate. He ripped it up and handed a small piece to Woonggi. “Thank you,” he mumbled, hoping to stay on the sailor’s good side.

“You’re welcome. I’m Jongho,” the older boy said, “it’s nice to meet you. And it’s really nice to have some younger faces around here.”

Jisu didn’t bother to offer his or Woonggi’s names, real or fake. He didn’t trust this man at all. 

“I’m really sorry about everything you’ve been through,” Jongho said sincerely, “it sounds horrible.”

Jisu ripped off another piece of bread for Woonggi, still staring Jongho down. “What do you want from us?” he asked finally.

“Captain wants to know where you came from and how you got here,” Jongho said honestly, “I just want to make this a little less shitty for you ‘cause I know I would want someone to do the same thing for me.”

Jisu sighed. There was really no sense in hiding that much. It couldn’t really be used against them anyway. “We ran from the ship we were on and hid in one of the crates on the dock. I thought it was a delivery, I had no idea it was going on a boat. Otherwise we wouldn’t have hid there.”

“Oh wow,” Jongho mumbled, “how did you manage to escape?” Now it was just his curiosity getting the better of him.

“I don’t know,” Jisu said honestly, “I don’t remember. One second we were on the ship and the next second we weren’t.”

Jongho knew that wasn’t it but he wasn’t going to push it. “The captain’s not really a bad guy,” he offered, “yeah he’s pretty rough around the edges but I promise he means well. Just don’t mouth off too much and you’ll be okay. I know it’s annoying to just take it sometimes but I promise it’s worth it.”

“He’s not gonna dump us back with the slavers, is he?” Jisu asked nervously. 

“No. Yeosang wouldn’t let him anyway,” Jongho promised, “he’s just going to dump you at the next port.”

Jisu still didn’t like that. As crass as the captain was, they’d been safer in a month on this boat than they had been for years before that. 

“Sorry,” Jongho apologized when he saw the boy’s expression, “we just don’t really have room for kids here.”

“We’ve been here for weeks and you didn’t even know,” Jisu pointed out.

Jongho narrowed his eyes. “Yeah and you’ve been stealing things that we need for our crew,” he said, “captain isn’t just going to feed a couple of kids who can’t work.”

“I can work!” Jisu said, puffing up his chest, “and he can...I dunno, help make food or something.”

Jongho raised his eyebrows. “You want to stay here?” he asked, “why wouldn’t you rather go work in town? It’s safer.” 

“No it’s not,” Jisu said, “if we stay here, the only risk we have of being sent back is if they attack this ship and win.”

“Good luck convincing the captain to let you stay,” Jongho said, “he hasn’t taken on a new crew member in over a year.”

“I can be convincing when I need to,” Jisu said defensively.

“Good,” Jongho said, “honestly your best bet is to convince Yeosang. He’ll agree in a heartbeat and he’ll be able to convince the captain. He’s the only one other than Seonghwa that has any leverage against him.”

“Is he coming back soon?” Jisu asked, “his shoulder hurts again and I think he really needs water too.”

“He’s probably not going to come down until after dinner,” Jongho said, “when I bring you food, I’ll bring some water too.”

“Thank you,” Jisu said quietly. He didn’t care much about himself, but he needed to make sure Woonggi was taken care of. 

Jongho nodded. “Well that was really it. I’ll be back down in a few hours,” he said. He pushed himself up and went to report to Hongjoong what he had learned. He chose not to reveal to the captain that the boys wanted to stay aboard.

Yeosang perked up when Jongho showed up again, but he couldn’t hear what the boy was saying to the captain. It was getting dark now, so he sat up straighter, looking out for San and Yunho.

Hongjoong thanked Jongho and sent him back to work. He stayed up on the deck, keeping watch with Seonghwa and Yeosang. If San and Yunho didn’t return soon, he would go looking for them.


	3. Chapter 3

Yeosang nearly dozed off up in his perch. The moon was high in the sky when he finally heard crashing in the woods. He raised his spyglass to his eye and looked around until he found the source of the noise. “It’s them,” he called out, “I’m not counting any followers.”

“Jongho, Mingi, ready the sails,” Hongjoong ordered, “as soon as they’re aboard we’re heading out.” He was grateful that the boys hadn’t drawn any more unwanted parties to their ship.

Yeosang climbed down from the crow’s nest so he could help San and Yunho climb aboard. As soon as both men were on deck, they were moving, slowly creeping out of the inlet and onto the open sea. Immediately, he could tell that it hadn’t gone well.

The moment San’s feet hit the deck, he headed off to his room. He wanted nothing to do with his crew. Yunho could answer all of their questions.

“We should tell him about the kids,” Yeosang said as he approached the captain, “they might know something about his brother.”

“Don’t let him talk to them alone,” Hongjoong said, “I don’t want him going berserk if they don’t know anything.”

“Why don’t we send Jongho with him?” Yeosang suggested, “if anyone’s going to keep San in check, it’s him.”

“Good idea,” Hongjoong said, “but let him cool off tonight. We’ll have Jongho tell him in the morning and they can go down once he’s had time to chill out.”

“He’s gonna wanna go back first thing in the morning though,” Yeosang said, “we did promise him that we would let him go again if he couldn’t find anything today.”

“Well he can talk to the kids, see if they know anything, and then he and Yunho can go back out,” Hongjoong said, “but after that we’re done. We have other things we need to get done and he needs to come to terms with reality.”

Yeosang decided not to push it. He went off to find Jongho and let him know what the plan was.

Jongho easily agreed to take San down to talk to the boys. “Oh before I forget. I didn’t want to tell the captain earlier but the older one wants them to stay on the ship. He even said he would work. I don’t know how well that would fly but I figured it’d be better to talk to you about it,” he said.

“Hongjoong won’t be happy with that,” Yeosang said shaking his head, “we’ll have to see if they can give San any info and go from there. It’ll be a few days before we reach another port anyway, so we have time to butter him up.”

“I figured you would have the best chance of convincing him out of anyone. But I don’t know if you even want the kids. The little one isn’t exactly useful,” Jongho said.

“We could always use a hand in the galley,” Yeosang said, “I can make him useful.”

“Good luck convincing the captain,” Jongho said, “I’m gonna go check on San before he does something stupid.”

Yeosang shook his head and went to find Hongjoong instead. He would wait until they saw what the kids had to offer before bringing anything up to the captain.

Hongjoong was surprised when Yeosang came back. “Is he going to check on San?” he asked.

“Yeah, he said he was going to keep him from doing anything stupid,” Yeosang said.

Hongjoong rolled his eyes. “I really don’t know what Jongho sees in him,” he said, “he didn’t even really know him before he went off the deep end either.”

“Jongho’s a good kid,” Yeosang said, “I think he just has a lot of faith in him.”

“That he is,” Hongjoong agreed, “he’s got the biggest heart I think I’ve ever seen.” He paused. “On this ship at least.”

Yeosang smiled softly. “San’s a good kid too, somewhere in there,” he said.

“Somewhere,” Hongjoong echoed, “I just hope Jongho can find it sooner than later.”

“Let’s go to bed,” Yeosang said, taking Hongjoong’s hand, “we can worry about all that in the morning.”

Hongjoong nodded. He let Yeosang pull him to their room and only let go so that he could climb into bed. Once Yeosang had climbed in as well, he reached over and pulled the younger man against himself.

Yeosang easily settled against Hongjoong’s side. “Things will be okay,” he promised.

San’s head shot up when his door opened but his retort died on his tongue when he saw it was Jongho. “I don’t want to talk about it,” he said. He was not in the mood for anything other than trying to go to sleep.

“I know,” Jongho said simply, “I just thought you might like some company.”

San thought for a moment before scooting closer to the wall to make room for Jongho. “Lock the door,” he requested.

Jongho locked the door behind him and slid into bed next to San. “Did you get hurt at all?” he asked.

San shook his head. “Yunho got cut up a bit but he managed to get away from whoever he ran into,” he replied.

“I’m glad you’re okay,” Jongho said.

The corner of San’s lip twitched up, but it wasn’t enough to consider it a smile. “Thanks, Jongho,” he said quietly, “but it doesn’t matter if the trip was pointless.”

“Not necessarily,” Jongho said, “we know where he isn’t. That’s good, it narrows down our remaining options.”

San scoffed. “Oh brilliant. Let me cross it off the list,” he snarked, “look I get that you’re trying but that’s not helpful. Captain’s pulling the plug on this tomorrow anyway.”

Jongho sighed. “Look, I'm not supposed to tell you this until the morning, but I’m gonna tell you anyway,” he said, “we found two stowaways today.”

“Two?” San asked incredulously, “Captain’s losing his touch if he let two stowaways sneak on board. Are we getting rid of them here or waiting?”

“They’re kids and it sounds like they escaped from traffickers,” Jongho said, “Yeosang won't let him dump them here.”

San’s eyes widened. “Kids? That escaped traffickers?” he asked quietly, “why weren’t you supposed to tell me until tomorrow?”

“They didn’t want you to go down there all worked up,” Jongho said with a shrug, “Yeosang said the older one is sixteen or seventeen and the younger one is somewhere from ten to fourteen.”

“I can go down there? Where are they, the brig?” San asked. He shot out of bed and over to the door. “Screw them for trying to make me wait until tomorrow.”

“They figured you would want to talk to them,” Jongho said, getting up and following San.

“Yeah of course I want to talk to them,” San said. He all but threw his door open, barely remembering to unlock it, and rushed down to the brig.

Jongho made sure to stay close behind San and keep an eye on him. He didn’t want him hurting the kids if they couldn’t tell him anything. 

San rushed downstairs and saw the two boys curled together in one of the cells. He rushed over to the cell and grabbed the metal bars tightly. “You have to help me. I’m looking for someo-,” San’s voice caught in his throat when the older of the two boys looked up at him. His heart dropped out of his chest when he recognized the boy. “Jisu…oh my God, Jisu!” He frantically rushed around for the key to the cell and threw the door open. He wasted no time racing over to the boy and pulling him into a tight hug.

Jisu had been pulled from his slumber when the door to the brig scraped open. He blinked rapidly, trying to see through the darkness. One of the other sailors was talking to him, but he didn’t register any of it until he heard his name, his actual name. His eyes widened and he flinched back when the man rushed into the cell and grabbed him. “Don’t hurt him!” he cried, shoving Woonggi behind him.

San pulled back, eyes glassy. “It’s me, Jisu. It’s me,” he said, “I’m not going to hurt either of you. I can’t believe it’s really you.”

Jisu knew that voice. When his eyes finally adjusted and he saw who was in front of him, he gasped. “San?” he asked weakly.

“Yeah, it’s me,” San said quietly, “you look so different.” His eyes wandered around his brother’s face, taking in the dark circles under his eyes and his sunken in cheeks. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

“Y-You have?” Jisu asked, eyes tearing up. He thought that his entire family had given up on him. “I’m so sorry, what’s happening?” Jongho interrupted.

San had almost completely forgotten that Jongho had come down with him. He moved to the side a little bit but not too far. “Yeah. I’ve been looking for you for years. The crew finally started helping me a year ago. That’s why I joined this ship,” he said, “Jongho, this is my brother.” It felt so weird to be saying aloud. He couldn’t believe his brother was really here. It felt like a trick the universe was playing on him.

“I - wait, what?” Jongho asked, glancing between the two, “ _ this _ is your brother? What about the other one?”

San glanced behind Jisu at the other boy who had crowded himself against the back wall. “I-I’m not sure. What’s your name?” he asked gently.

“His name is Woonggi,” Jisu said, completely comfortable now that his brother was here, “he doesn’t really talk much.”

“That’s okay,” San said before turning back to his brother, “are you okay? Did anyone do anything to you since you’ve been here?” He started looking over his brother more closely. He hated how skinny Jisu was.

“No, they fed us and looked at Woonggi’s injuries,” Jisu said, “the captain wants us gone though.”

“That’s not happening,” San said immediately, “you’re not going anywhere. Or I should say you’re not going anywhere without me. If he really wants you gone, then I’ll leave with you.”

“Good luck changing his mind,” Jongho muttered, “even Yeosang was hesitant to try.”

“I’m not losing you again,” San sat firmly, “our next stop was going to be our village anyway. We can finally go home.” He hadn’t really ever thought of returning home.

Jisu shook his head adamantly. “I never want to go back there,” he said. He still had vivid memories of the night he was stolen from his home.

“Okay, we don’t have to go back,” San said quickly, “but I’m going where you go. You’ll never lose me again. I promise.” 

“Should I go get the captain?” Jongho asked uncertainly.

“No,” San said, “he’s gonna flip. I’ll deal with him tomorrow. Come on. You guys can sleep in my room tonight. I promise he won’t catch you.”

Jisu got up and helped Woonggi up too. The younger boy whimpered, clutching his injured arm.

“Jongho, go get me some bandages and the good salve from the infirmary,” San said, “I’ll clean up your arm when we get upstairs.”

“Yeosang locked it after we caught them stealing supplies,” Jongho said, “and he’s got the only key with him.”

San sighed. “Okay, let’s get you upstairs and I’ll go get the key,” he said. He slowly led both boys out of their cell and to the entrance of the brig. “Jongho, is anyone on deck?”

Jongho peeked out the door. “No, coast is clear,” he said. He didn’t really think they’d get in all that much trouble if they got caught anyway.

“Alright, let’s go,” San said. He led his brother and Woonggi to his room and helped them sit on his bed. “I’ll be right back. I’m going to go get some stuff to clean up his arm. Are you injured at all?” he asked Jisu.

“No,” Jisu lied, “just hungry.”

San was a little suspicious so he decided to grab some extra supplies just in case. “Jongho, go get them some food and water. We’ll both be right back, I promise,” he said. He hadn’t had to sneak into the captain’s cabin in ages. Hopefully Yeosang still used the same hiding spots for his keys.

As soon as the door closed, Jisu sagged. He couldn’t believe that his brother was actually here. After years of fighting for their freedom and safety, he and Woonggi were actually going to be okay.

San slipped into the captain’s cabin silently. He walked over to the corner of the room and reached behind the wardrobe into the knot hole in the wall. He cursed internally when he didn’t find any keys. 

Jisu looked up when Woonggi’s hand slid into his. “Are you okay?” the younger boy asked in the smallest voice.

Jisu was about to nod but he caught himself and shook his head. “I didn’t think I’d ever see him again,” he said quietly, “I thought he was gone. I thought they took him too and that it was the end of both of us. I just-“ A lump formed in his throat, cutting him off.

Woonggi shuffled closer and laid his head on Jisu’s shoulder. “It’s okay,” he said quietly.

Jisu sniffed and clung onto Woonggi’s hand tightly. Now that everything was starting to settle down, the adrenaline was wearing off. And that meant the wound in his side was starting to hurt again.

It wasn’t long before Jongho had returned with some bread and water. Jisu took the bread and once again ripped it into smaller pieces to hand to Woonggi. He did keep some for himself, and he took the water gratefully.

San eventually found what he was looking for. He quickly snuck down to the infirmary and gathered all the supplies he would need. In no time he had returned the key to it’s spot and headed back to his room.

Jisu sat up straight when San came back into the room, wincing when the action pulled at the wound on his side.

San narrowed his eyes. “Please don’t lie to me anymore,” he said, “let me see where you’re injured.”

Jisu sighed. He’d been caught. Slowly, he lifted his shirt to show San the gash in his side. “It’s not as bad as it looks?” he tried.

“Jisu, you can’t just let something like this heal on its own. You’ll get an infection,” San said. He knelt down next to the bed and removed the soiled bandages that Jisu had tried to use to pack the wound. “Holy shit. What happened?” He was surprised with how alert his brother was, especially with how much blood he probably lost.

“I got in trouble,” Jisu mumbled evasively. He didn’t really want to talk about the things that had happened to him.

“Got in trouble? Oh, Jisu,” San mumbled. He felt such a conflict of emotions. His heart ached for what his brother had gone through but the anger at the men who had hurt him was slowly overtaking him. As he got a closer look at Jisu’s side, it was clear his brother had been stabbed with something, but what that something was was unclear. “This is going to need stitches,” he said, “my hand isn’t steady enough but I’ll have Yeosang do it first thing in the morning. I don’t want you to have an uneven scar.”

“I wasn’t performing well enough for them and they started shoving me around and I ran into a piece of metal sticking out of the wall,” Jisu explained quietly.

San inhaled sharply. “You’ll never get hurt like this ever again. I swear to you,” he promised, “I have to clean this out before I pack this again. I’m sorry but it’s going to hurt.”

Jisu’s grip on Woonggi’s hand tightened, but the younger boy didn’t make a peep. San was right; cleaning out the wound did hurt, but Jisu knew it would heal better once it was sterilized.

San could tell Jisu was doing his best to stay strong so he tried to clean out the gash as quickly as possible. He was going to have to make sure he got some time completely alone with his brother. Once the gash was cleaned out as much as possible, San packed it and wrapped it tightly. “Okay, can I see your arm?” he asked, turning to Woonggi.

“It’s not bleeding through or anything,” Jisu said, “he just wants more of whatever stuff the doctor put on it before so it stops hurting.”

“That would be this,” San said, fishing a small tin out of his pocket, “this helps numbs whatever you put it on.” He rubbed some of the salve on the wound on Woonggi’s shoulder and redressed it. “Was there anything else?”

Woonggi shook his head shyly. His hand felt fine, or at least fine enough to not need help. This may have been Jisu’s brother, but he didn’t trust him any more than any of the other sailors on this ship.

“Alright, get comfortable. You both need some sleep. Jongho, you can stay in your room tonight,” San said. He stashed all the supplies he had taken into his nightstand for later.

“Just make sure you’re up before the captain is,” Jongho warned, “if he finds out they’re not in the brig, he’s gonna flip.”

“We’ll be okay,” San said, “if anyone asks, you had no idea I brought them up here.”

“Roger that,” Jongho said, “let me know if you need anything.”

“Will do. Thanks, Jong,” San said quietly, “go get some sleep.”

Woonggi flinched involuntarily when the door slammed shut behind Jongho. He hoped that this wasn’t where things started going south.

San frowned when Woonggi flinched. The poor boy was really jumpy. “I’m gonna keep watch,” he told them, “no one’s going to find you here tonight.”

“Do you have anything we can change into?” Jisu asked tentatively, “we’ve been wearing these clothes for weeks.”

“Oh yeah, here,” San said. He grabbed two pairs of clothes and handed them over. “These are probably gonna be a little big on Woonggi but we’ll find something better tomorrow.”

Jisu stood up and blocked Woonggi so the younger boy could change before getting changed himself. It was really nice not having to be in their dirty clothes any longer. Hopefully, if they stayed, they would even be able to take a bath.

“Do you need anything else?” San asked. He wanted to take advantage of the time he had with his brother but he knew Jisu definitely needed a good night’s rest.

Jisu shook his head. All they needed now was sleep until the morning came and the captain decided their fate.

“Get some sleep, Su,” San said quietly, “I’ll be here when you wake up.”

Jisu curled up on the very edge of the bed, holding Woonggi close to him so neither of them would fall off. He couldn’t help but sigh at the feeling of the soft mattress against his back.

San watched his brother drift off to sleep. When Jisu’s breathing finally evened out, he lost it. He buried his face in his hands and sobbed quietly. His knees buckled and he sat in the middle of his floor, doing his best to stay silent.

Woonggi was awakened by the sound of something hitting the floor. He sat up a bit and found Jisu’s brother in the middle of the floor, sobbing into his hands. He frowned.

San’s shoulders were shaking so violently they were beginning to ache. He tried desperately to pull himself together but it was no use. All of the pent up stress and anger from the past few years of searching for his brother were finally catching up to him.

Woonggi sat and watched San cry. Eventually, he crawled away from Jisu and patted the mattress, trying to get San’s attention.

San’s head shot up when he heard noise and was surprised to see Woonggi staring at him. “I’m sorry,” he whispered shakily, “go back to sleep. I’ll be quiet I promise.” He wiped at his eyes although it didn’t help much.

Woonggi pointed at San and then at Jisu, motioning for the older man to come up on the bed. He imagined that it hurt a lot to be away from his brother for so long.

“What’s wrong? Is he okay?” San asked nervously. He rushed over to the bed, but Jisu appeared to be sleeping peacefully.

Woonggi just pointed at the bed again before crawling back into his spot on Jisu’s outside.

San sat down where Woonggi pointed. There wasn’t enough room for him to completely lay down so he just scooted back to lean against the wall. “Go back to sleep,” he said gently.

Woonggi didn’t close his eyes. He kept watch on San, making sure he didn’t hurt Jisu.

San wasn’t surprised that Woonggi was watching him. With a sigh, he leaned more comfortably against the wall. It was easy to stop crying now. He didn’t like crying in front of people.

Eventually, Woonggi couldn’t keep himself awake any longer. His thumb made its way to his mouth and he succumbed to sleep.

San smiled softly when Woonggi fell asleep. He was glad the boy was getting some rest. He definitely needed it.

Unfortunately, Woonggi wasn’t able to sleep for long. He woke just as the first rays of sunlight penetrated the room.

San watched as Woonggi blinked his eyes opened and stretched before promptly clinging onto Jisu again. “Morning, kiddo,” he said quietly. 

Woonggi blinked and looked up at San. He checked all of his extremities, then all of Jisu’s. They were safe.

“You’re okay,” San assured, “it was just me in here last night.”

Woonggi’s eyes narrowed. San being Jisu’s brother didn’t mean that he trusted him.

San couldn’t help smiling. Woonggi was adorable even when he tried to act tough though. The smile quickly faded when he heard heavy footsteps outside his door. 

“Choi San, you’re late,” Hongjoong scolded as he threw open the bedroom door. “Wait, wait, I’m coming,” San said, scrambling to stop the captain from coming in, but he was too late. Hongjoong’s eyes widened when he saw the boys curled up on San’s bed. “What the fuck are they doing up here?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A quick note on Woonggi! He is roughly twelve in this story but you'll see him exhibiting behaviors of a younger child, as well as being treated as a younger child. We decided to give him this characterization because of the age at which he was taken by traffickers. His physical, mental, and emotional growth would have been stunted by trauma, so if you see him acting or being treated as much younger than twelve, that's why!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A couple warnings for this chapter: Hongjoong slaps San at the beginning of this chapter and there is a scene in the middle of the chapter where Yeosang cleans and tends to Woonggi and Jisu's wounds, including stitching one on Jisu's side. They are both very brief and not detailed but if either of those are upsetting to you please skip those parts!

Woonggi scrambled up with a yelp when the door slammed open, tugging on Jisu’s arm. His eyes welled up with tears. The captain was going to throw them off the ship and back to the traffickers, he just knew it.

Hongjoong rounded on San. “Why did you go down to the brig and why are they up here?” he asked angrily. “I was walking on the deck and I heard noise so I went downstairs and I found them,” San said. “Liar!” Hongjoong spat, slapping San in the cheek and catching the corner of his mouth. “Why are they up here?” the captain asked again. “I didn’t want them sleeping downstairs,” San replied, that part was at least true.

Woonggi and Jisu both jumped off the bed when the captain hit San. The older boy pushed the younger one behind him, keeping him out of harm’s way.

Hongjoong stepped back to block the door. “Don’t even think about going anywhere,” he threatened the boys, “Seonghwa, get in here!” His first mate could deal with the boys and he could handle San.

Seonghwa heard the commotion and rushed over to San’s room. “What’s going on?” he asked. 

“Bring the rats back downstairs. Keep the key wi-,” Hongjoong said. “No!” San interrupted, stepping in front of the boys, “they’re not prisoners.”

Seonghwa sighed and crossed his arms. “San, what’s going on?” he asked.

“They’re not going back downstairs,” San said firmly, “they’re staying right here.” “San, we do not have time for your games,” Hongjoong said angrily, “we have been bending over backwards for you for over a year and Yunho risked his neck for you yesterday. If you want your last chance to explore this island I suggest you get moving.” “I don’t need it,” San replied quietly.

“I’m his brother,” Jisu said bravely. He didn’t know why San was trying to hide it.

Hongjoong stood in shocked silence, looking back and forth between the boys. “Seonghwa, set sail to the east. Take San with you up to the deck and send Yeosang to my room. As for the boys, they can stay here but if I catch either of them out of this room they will be back downstairs with no food. Am I understood?” he asked, voice deadly quiet.

“C’mon, San-ah,” Seonghwa said, “let’s get out of these godforsaken waters.”

San didn’t dare to argue with Hongjoong. “I’ll be back soon,” he whispered so only Jisu could hear him. He glanced back at his brother and followed Seonghwa from the room. Hongjoong followed behind them, but instead of going up to the deck he headed to his room to wait for Yeosang.

Yeosang was surprised to hear that he’d been called back into the captain’s quarters. “What’s wrong?” he asked once he had closed the door.

Hongjoong took a deep breath and turned to face Yeosang. “San was late to the deck today because he had the boys in his room,” he began, “I’m not sure how he found them but that’s not important. The oldest one is his brother, or at least claims to be.”

“Oh, whoa,” Yeosang said, “I mean, I guess I can see it a little. What do you need from me?”

“I don’t know what to do,” Hongjoong admitted, “we really don’t have enough supplies to support these kids but I can’t afford to lose San. I wouldn’t mind splitting the kids up but if the older one is anything like his brother, I don’t want to deal with those repercussions.”

“I don’t think the younger one would survive without the older one, and I don’t want that on my conscience,” Yeosang said, “we can have San train his brother to help on deck and Jongho and I can find things for the younger one to do. That way they’ll be useful and you can justify using supplies on them. I’m sure most of the guys would be willing to give up some portions of their food until we can restock again.”

“They need to be useful. The older one needs to be able to work and must pull his weight on the deck. And the little one will be up on the deck as soon as he’s old enough,” Hongjoong said, “we’re not babysitters. If they aren’t useful, they’re gone. I’m going to tell San the same thing.”

“And I won’t fight you on that,” Yeosang agreed, “we can’t afford dead weight, not right now. I’ll even make sure the little one can help out. There’s always things that are easier when tiny fingers do them.”

Hongjoong sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Thank you,” he said quietly, “that was all I needed.”

“I’m going to have Jongho bring them some bathwater, I’ll look over their injuries again, and then we can introduce them to the rest of the crew,” Yeosang said.

Hongjoong nodded. “I want to talk to San again but he needs to put in a day's work first,” he said, “this isn’t an excuse for him to slack off.”

“Of course not,” Yeosang said, “and I know you don’t have much experience with children, but try not to be too rough around them, alright? Especially the younger one. I’m sure they’re traumatized enough as it is.”

“As long as they listen and don’t mouth off, I won’t have a reason to get rough with them,” Hongjoong said, “they’re old enough to understand that they have to behave. I’m not letting them get away with anything, especially if San teaches them any bad habits.”

“Seonghwa said you slapped San in front of them,” Yeosang said, “I know he pisses you off, but maybe try to reign it in, just until they get comfortable. We have no idea what they’ve been through and they’re not going to be as effective workers if they’re scared of you.”

“He lied to my face. He knows he can’t get away with that,” Hongjoong said, “I don’t care who is on this ship, I am not relaxing my rules here. I’ll lose control of him and you know how that went last time.”

“That’s fine, just...do it away from the kids for now, alright?” Yeosang said, “I’m not saying it’s got to be a permanent change. Just for the time being.”

“Okay. Fine,” Hongjoong agreed, “do  _ not  _ let those kids get away with anything and do not get attached. They are just more crew members. They don’t get any special treatment. Treat them as you would if anyone else on this ship got injured.”

“Sure,” Yeosang said agreeably, mentally rolling his eyes. He wondered how much more energy Hongjoong would have if he didn’t devote so much of it to seeming heartless.

“Yeosang, don’t go against me,” Hongjoong said warningly, “I have enough to deal with as is it.”

“I’m not going to,” Yeosang said, “don’t worry about the kids, I’ll take care of them, alright?”

“Okay,” Hongjoong agreed, “thank you. You can go check on them now. I’m going back up to check on the crew.”

Yeosang left the captain’s quarters. He grabbed Jongho on his way through, asking him to bring bathwater to San’s quarters. He went to find Wooyoung next. They didn’t really have any clothes that would fit the boys better than what they were wearing now, especially the younger one, but Wooyoung was the smallest member of the crew after the captain, so his clothes would likely fit the best.

Jongho had just brought the last bucket of hot water to San’s room when Yeosang returned with some new clothes. “Do you need anything else?” he asked.

“No, I’m going to give them space to clean up and get changed then bring them back down to the infirmary,” Yeosang said, “maybe clean out the room across from the captain’s that I used to use? San’s room really doesn’t have space for three people.”

Jongho nodded. “I’ll do that right now,” he said. He slipped out of the room and back downstairs, grateful to not have to work on deck with the captain.

Yeosang handed the clothes off to the boys and left them to their devices. He headed to the infirmary instead, making sure he had everything ready that he needed.

Jisu helped Woonggi get clean, careful to not get his shoulder too wet. He did make sure to scrub all of the grime and blood out of the younger boy's hair. Only after Woonggi was cleaned up and dressed did Jisu worry about himself.

After about half an hour, Yeosang went back up and knocked on San’s door. “You guys doing okay?” he asked.

“Yeah we’re okay,” Jisu called. He finished washing up quickly and dried off. He sucked in a breath when he accidentally hit the gash in his side in his haste to finish drying off and get dressed.

“Just let me know when you’re ready and I’ll take you down to the infirmary,” Yeosang called back.

“We’re ready,” Jisu replied as he pulled the shirt over his head. He took the dirty clothes and put them to the side to wash later.

Yeosang opened the door and led the two boys back down to the infirmary. He was glad to see that Wooyoung’s clothes fit them a bit better than San’s had. “Alright, let me see your shoulder,” he asked the younger one.

Jisu once again helped Woonggi out of his shirt. He sat next to the boy and held his hand tightly. He studied Yeosang closely so that he could learn how to treat the wound properly.

Yeosang carefully cleaned out the wound again and inspected it closer. “This isn’t actually too bad,” he said, reaching for the salve, “I’ll keep putting the salve on it and covering it and hopefully it should heal within a week.”

“I can put the salve on and cover it,” Jisu said, “how often does that need to be done?”

“At least once a day,” Yeosang said, “it’ll need to get cleaned every day too. There’s saline in these cans, but I’m sure you knew that already. The salve will also relax the muscle so it doesn’t hurt as much, so it can go on as often as needed.”

“I can do that,” Jisu said with a nod. He was sure that Woonggi would be much more comfortable if he was taking care of him instead of Yeosang.

“And what about your injuries?” Yeosang asked, raising an eyebrow, “more of my stuff is missing, so don’t try to lie to me.”

Jisu sighed. “San looked at my side and I can clean it on my own,” he said, “and I have some stuff in here to do it.” He didn’t want his brother getting in trouble for stealing the supplies.

“Let me see,” Yeosang said, “I don’t care that he took my shit. I care that you’re okay.”

Jisu nearly scoffed. People didn’t care about him. Staying quiet, he obediently lifted his shirt to reveal the wrapped gash.

Yeosang unwrapped the wound and grimaced when he saw it. “That needs stitches,” he said, leaning closer to inspect it, “lay down. The kid can...sit on that stool over there.”

“It’s okay,” Jisu assured Woonggi, “you can sit over there. It won’t take long.” He turned his attention to Yeosang. “It’s not that bad. It hasn’t been bleeding as much lately.”

“It’s still too deep to heal on its own,” Yeosang said, “how long have you had this?”

“Not long,” Jisu said uncertainly, “maybe a couple weeks? I’ve been doing my best to keep it clean.”

“C’mon, lay down,” Yeosang said as he gathered up the things he would need, “this is probably going to hurt, just warning you.”

Jisu took a deep breath and laid back. He glanced over and saw Woonggi staring at him with big eyes. “It’s okay,” he soothed again.

“You can bring the seat closer if you want,” Yeosang said, sending the younger boy an encouraging smile. He threaded his needle and bent over the older boy’s side. “So,” he said conversationally as he began stitching, “will you tell me your real names now?”

Jisu hissed when Yeosang started stitching. “It’s okay,” he forced out quickly when he heard Woonggi whimper. He thought for a moment before giving in. He didn’t think they would send them away now. “I’m Jisu and his name is Woonggi.”

“It’s very nice to meet you,” Yeosang said, “like I said yesterday, my name is Yeosang and you two can come find me if you ever need anything, alright?”

“Thanks,” Jisu said simply. He most certainly would not be going to Yeosang for anything.

“I’m sorry if the captain scared you earlier,” Yeosang continued, “he can be a little rough, but I promise he’s a good man. Once you start actually working on deck, I’m sure he’ll take you right under his wing.”

“We can stay?” Jisu asked, “but d-does he hit all of his crew a lot?” He wasn’t going to let Woonggi go back to being abused, not when they worked so hard to get him free.

Yeosang nearly snorted. “No,” he said, “that’s a trick reserved almost exclusively for your brother. And anyway, I told him he has to keep it away from the two of you.”

Jisu’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t want him hitting my brother at all, with or without us around,” he said flatly.

“The captain is...a work in progress,” Yeosang said, “I can only exert so much control over him. Gentle people don’t really last long in this line of work.”

“I don’t want him anywhere near Woonggi. And I’ll tell him that myself,” Jisu said firmly, “he’s been abused enough. I’m not letting it happen anymore.”

“You wanna get yourselves thrown off this boat? Because that’s how you’re going to get yourselves thrown off this boat,” Yeosang said.

“I’m not going to just sit back and let him hurt my brother and my friend,” Jisu snapped, “it’d probably be better for San to get away from him with how poorly he treats him.”

“You and I both know that you two are safer on this ship than you are off of it,” Yeosang said, “and either way, it’ll be a few days before we hit a port, so you’re just going to have to suck it up.” He bit off the end of the thread and reached for a roll of bandages.

Jisu just stared up at the ceiling. He had fought so hard to get free, to get away from angry men holding the threat of violence over his head, and he had landed him and Woonggi back in the same situation. 

“You’re kids,” Yeosang said in a gentler voice, “I promise, everyone in this crew will do what they need to to keep you guys safe. We’ve been looking for you for too long to let anything happen.”

“I don’t need anyone to protect us,” Jisu sneered. He sat up, ignoring the way his side throbbed.

“I’m sure you don’t,” Yeosang said easily, “you seem to have done pretty well on your own already.”

Jisu eyed Yeosang uncertainly. “I didn’t have a choice,” he said flatly, “but as long as he doesn’t come near Woonggi, everything’ll be fine.”

“You don’t need to worry about him, I promise,” Yeosang said, “put your shirt back on and I’ll take you up to the galley. It’s just about lunchtime anyway.”

Jisu was uncertain but hopefully Yeosang was telling the truth. “Come on, Woongi, let’s go eat,” he said. He stood up and reached for the younger boy.

Yeosang led the boys up through the ship into the galley, where everyone else was already gathered for lunch.

Jisu balked at the door when he saw the rest of the crew. He put Woonggi between himself and the wall. He noticed empty spots next to his brother but he wasn’t sure about taking them.

“This is Jisu and Woonggi,” Yeosang announced, “Jisu is San’s brother.”

Yunho’s eyes widened. He looked at San and was shocked by how stoic the other boy looked. “Dude, aren’t you happy? We found him!” he said. “Of course, I’m happy,” San said, like it was obvious by how he was acting.

Yeosang motioned for the two boys to go sit between San and Mingi. “Don’t worry, they don’t bite,” he said before taking his own seat next to Hongjoong.

Jisu guided Woonggi to sit between himself and San. It was strange to see his brother like this. He used to smile so much when they were younger. It seemed now like he hadn’t smiled in a very long time.

The table was filled with an awkward silence. “So,” Yeosang finally said, “now that we’ve found Jisu, our next target is the navy, right?”

“Yes,” Hongjoong replied simply, “they have still not repaid their debt to me.” He did not have much to say with the boys sitting here. His plans for the navy were not of their concern.

“They haven’t repaid their debts to any of us,” Yeosang said, “are we still going for the medal?”

“Yes,” Hongjoong said again, “but the medal isn’t enough. Those men will pay for what they did to us.” Jisu glanced at San uncertainly but his brother’s expression was unreadable.

“We need to figure out where the medal is first,” Yeosang said, “I know what ship it’s on, but I have no idea where that ship is. We need to get intel.”

“We’ll get intel from the first navy ship we find,” Hongjoong said, “and I know where some of them like to hide out.”

“Communications logs would be our best bet if we can’t get it out of a sailor,” Yeosang said.

Hongjoong nodded. “We’ll be able to get some higher end supplies and food too,” he said, “I know we haven’t taken over a ship in a long time but I think if we’re smart we’ll be okay.”

“We’ll have to be smart,” Yeosang said, “this is the military, it’s not just some weak merchants. They’re going to be a lot more trained than anyone else we’ve fought before.”

“We’ve taken navy ships before you joined,” Hongjoong said, “but it’s been quite a while and it wasn’t this exact crew.”

“It would be good for us to go through some training drills,” Yeosang said, “and we should plan on the kids and Wooyoung being in the brig while we attack. That way, on the off chance that we lose, they’ll be assumed prisoners and not criminals.”

“We’ll start training this afternoon,” Hongjoong said, “Wooyoung, you can show the boys around deck and the galley. Explain to Jisu what would be expected of him if he was to work with you up here and explain to Woonggi how he can help prepare meals.”

“I was thinking I could actually train Woonggi to help me downstairs,” Yeosang said, “especially if we’re preparing to take a larger volume of supplies. I can teach him in the kitchen too.”

“Alright, you can handle Woonggi and Wooyoung can take Jisu. I want you to join us for some training though,” Hongjoong said, “I want you to be able to defend this ship and yourself if need be.”

“I can hold my own,” Yeosang said with a smirk, “I almost beat you once, Captain, remember?”

Hongjoong narrowed his eyes. “A slash on the cheek hardly counts as almost beating me,” he said, “but I want to make sure that’s still true. You haven’t had to fight since then.”

“I also broke San’s nose and would’ve gotten Yunho too if he wasn’t taller than me,” Yeosang grumbled.

“Still,” Hongjoong said more firmly, “I want you to train with us. Because if you end up in that situation with them, I want you to be able to actually escape.”

“Alright, alright,” Yeosang said, “I’ll have Woonggi go with Wooyoung whenever we decide to spar.”

“Good. Alright, everyone has ten minutes to report to the main deck. Wooyoung, don’t leave Jisu alone. If you need to do something on your own, bring him up to us,” Hongjoong said, before standing and leaving the room.

Yeosang rolled his eyes. He finished his food and stood, beckoning for Woonggi to follow him.

Woonggi whined and clung onto Jisu’s hand tightly. Jisu glanced over at San but his brother nodded. “He’ll be okay,” he promised. Jisu hadn’t been separated from Woonggi in a long time and he was nervous about what the men would do to him, but he trusted his brother. “It’s okay. I’ll be back with you soon,” he promised the younger boy.

Yeosang kept his hand on Woonggi’s back as they headed back downstairs. “How’s your shoulder?” he asked kindly.

Woonggi nodded and raised his arm up. It felt better after whatever the doctor had put on it.

Yeosang smiled. “You don’t talk much, do you?” he asked carefully.

Woonggi pouted and shook his head. The only person who didn’t punish him for talking was Jisu.

“That’s okay,” Yeosang said, “we’re gonna try and train you to do a bunch of little tasks that only your little hands can do, starting with infirmary stuff.”

Woonggi nodded again. He wasn’t sure exactly what that meant but he knew he couldn’t refuse. 

Yeosang knew Woonggi wouldn’t be strong enough to help him move crates, so he decided to have him prep surgical supplies instead. If they were going to fight the navy, they would need them. He showed him how to thread needles and left him to it.

Woonggi sat up straight and got to work. He paid close attention and made sure each needle was threaded exactly how Yeosang showed him. If there was one thing he knew how to do it was tedious work like this. At one point his shoulder began to hurt again but he kept working. It wasn’t that bad anyway.

Yeosang started pushing and stacking crates, making room for all of the extras that they were about to acquire. It was exciting to finally be back on track to avenging Kenta.

Woonggi finally finished threading all the needles. He neatly put them all in the same box and then folded his hands in his lap. He watched Yeosang closely, waiting for instructions on what he was supposed to do next.

Yeosang spotted Woonggi patiently waiting for his next task. “You can knock on the desk to let me know when you finish so you don’t have to wait,” he said, “I just have to move a few more crates, so why don’t you strip the cot and I’ll show you where we keep the linens to reset it and what we do to wash them.”

Woonggi stood up from his chair so he could take the soiled linens off of the cot. He folded them all neatly and left them on top of the cot. He didn’t want to knock on the desk because he knew Yeosang would come back over when he finished moving the last crate.

Yeosang finally got the last crate moved and returned to the infirmary. “Hey, you’re really good at folding those,” he said, “I keep spare linens in this trunk.” He pulled the box out from under one of the shelfs and opened it. “Sheets, blankets, pillowcases. I’m sure you know how to make a bed, so I won’t worry about that now. Grab those dirty ones and I’ll show you the laundry.”

Woonggi did in fact know how to make a bed. The sheets had to be even on both sides, tucked in properly, and with no wrinkles to be seen. He obediently picked up the soiled linens and followed Yeosang. He knew his way around this room decently enough even though he and Jisu did not explore that much.

Yeosang led Woonggi into the galley and over to the sink. He grabbed a jug from under the counter. “This is bleach,” he said, “so be very careful when you use it. You really only need a capful or so.” He plugged the sink and turned the spigot. “This ship used to be a fancy merchant ship and I think it was navy before that, so it has a mechanism to pull water from the sea and filter it for use,” he explained, “it’s very slow though and this is the only place the water comes in. If you ever need water for anything anywhere else, you can use a pail or have Jongho help you with a tub.” Once the sink had finally filled, he dumped in a bit of bleach and had Woonggi put the sheets in the water. Deciding to let them sit for a bit, he led the boy over to the other sink. “This one doesn’t go through the filter, so we use it for washing dishes,” he explained, “we only have rags so the salt helps get things off easier. We use the other sink with the filter for everything else.” He showed him where the soap mixture was for dishwashing and started pointing out where all of the dishes were stored.

Woonggi followed Yeosang, listening closely to all of his instructions and taking mental notes of where everything was. He had to be sure to remember all of this since he wouldn’t be able to ask again later. He noticed the sink for dishwashing had a chip in the back corner, which made it easier to remember which was which.

Yeosang caught Woonggi eyeing the crack in the sink. “Good eye,” he praised, “it doesn’t leak a lot, but we do keep a tub under there just in case, so don’t use that one for anything. If it gets full, you can have Jongho take it outside for you. I know the tall guys look the most useful, but Jongho’s the strongest one on this ship.”

Woonggi nodded. He was still scared of the taller crew members but now he was even more scared of Jongho. He had seemed okay when he was with San but Woonggi still didn’t trust him, especially now.

Yeosang led Woonggi back over to the laundry and helped him make sure the linens were clean. He drained the sink and squeezed out the blankets before carrying them outside and onto the quarterdeck, where they had a line strung for drying large things. “We’ll dry clothes in our rooms, but it’s easier to dry linens out here,” he explained, “I’ll make sure we get a stool so you can hang things without hurting your arm.”

Woonggi shook his head and raised his arm up to help hang the linens. Sure it hurt a bit but it wasn’t bad enough that he needed a stool. Climbing up and down a stool would just slow him down and make him less efficient. 

“The longer you stay out of the way doing chores, the happier the captain will be,” Yeosang commented offhand, having caught the twitch of pain in Woonggi’s face, “I’ll talk to the crew tonight and set up a schedule for you to do their laundry as well.” He heard clanging and looked over the railing of the quarterdeck to see Hongjoong and San sparring.

Woonggi nodded immediately. He didn’t want to make the captain angry. He would be sure to work like he was used to: quietly and inconspicuously. He followed Yeosang’s gaze and saw the captain sparring with Jisu’s brother. His eyes widened when he saw their swords. They were just like the swords the men they used to be with had. Subconsciously, he backed away from the railing, accidentally bumping into the post that held up the line.

“We’ll leave these to dry,” Yeosang said, reaching up to steady the shaking line, “c’mon, let’s see if Mingi’s around. He can teach you how to braid rope.”

Woonggi followed Yeosang, but made sure to stay just out of arm’s reach. He didn’t know which one Mingi was and he wasn’t sure he wanted to find out.

“Mingi-ah!” Yeosang called, making sure to give the sparring pair a wide berth as he led Woonggi over, “I was hoping you could show Woonggi-ah here how to braid rope. It’ll be a good chore for his little fingers.”

Woonggi wasn’t sure where to look. His eyes darted nervously between the sparring, Mingi, and Yeosang. He did his best not to look scared, although he was sure it didn’t work, but he did manage to keep quiet. All he could hope for was that braiding rope was easy and that he would be able to do it exactly how the crew wanted it.

“Sure thing,” Mingi said with a smile, “I think the captain wanted you to tag in next anyway. C’mon, Woonggi, let’s go sit on those steps and I’ll show you what to do.”

Woonggi followed Mingi over to the steps. He waited for the taller man to sit before sitting next to him. He tried to focus entirely on Mingi, but his eyes kept darting over to the sparring.

“Don’t pay attention to them,” Mingi said when he saw Woonggi’s gaze keep drifting, “they’re just practicing, they’re not going to hurt each other. Those blades aren’t even sharp. Here, do you wanna switch spots so you can’t see them?”

Woonggi nodded and gratefully switched spots with Mingi. Now he would be able to focus better and do a better job braiding. He was nervous not being able to see but it was okay. He needed to pay attention to his work.

Mingi’s hands were big, so they were a bit clumsy as he showed Woonggi how to braid tiny strands into ropes strong enough to hold an anchor. “Our ropes wear out pretty fast, so it’s always good for us to have extras,” he said.

Woonggi nodded again. He braided a small section of the rope, making sure it was nice and tight, and held it up for Mingi to inspect. He wanted to make sure he was doing a good job before he kept going.

“Yeah, that’s perfect,” Mingi said, taking the rope and turning it over to inspect it, “you got it even tighter than I did, good job.”

Woonggi sighed quietly, grateful that he had done it right. After that he hunkered down and got to work braiding the rope. He sat a little sideways so that Mingi could see both of his hands and the rope that he was working on.

They braided together in silence for a while until the clanging on the other side of the deck finally stopped. “I think Yeosang is about to tag in,” Mingi said, “do you want to watch? It’s always fun to see him and the captain spar.”

Woonggi looked at all the rope that still had to be braided. He held up the piece he was working for and looked at Mingi uncertainly. He didn’t think he should watch if he still had work to do but he was scared to say no.

“You don’t have to,” Mingi said hurriedly, “I find it easy to do the braiding while paying attention to something else, but I’ve also been doing it for a long time. You can keep working, it’s okay.”

Woonggi hesitantly began braiding again. He was used to working for men that were very specific on what they wanted. Mingi didn’t seem to be too sure and that was scary. Woonggi didn’t know if he was going to accidentally make him upset by doing the wrong thing.


	5. Chapter 5

On the other side of the deck, Yeosang took the sword from San, testing its weight in his hand. “Ready for me to beat you?” he taunted the captain.

“No,” Hongjoong said calmly, “because that’s not going to happen.” He adjusted the sword in his hand and shifted his weight to the balls of his feet.

“How about we make a bet out of it?” Yeosang offered, “whoever loses is at the winner’s mercy tonight when we turn in.”

Hongjoong smirked. “Deal,” he said, “you better get ready though. I don’t intend to lose.”

“Great,” Yeosang said with a grin, “in that case, en garde!” He rushed at Hongjoong, sword held high.

Hongjoong parried Yeosang’s attack and stepped to the side, letting the younger man slide past him. “Don’t rush into anything,” he said, “you’ll get caught off guard easily and if your opponent is fast enough they can down you before you have a chance to recover.”

“Sure, but now I have you facing the sun,” Yeosang countered, spinning to face Hongjoong again and parrying the strike that the captain made at him, “you’re already at one sight disadvantage and now I’ve just made it even harder for you to see. Sloppy, sloppy, captain.”

“It’s not sloppy. You never take your eyes off your opponent and you never leave your back open to them,” Hongjoong said. Although Yeosang was right, he wasn’t going to admit it. He could see well enough for what they were doing. 

“You haven’t sparred much since your eye healed, have you?” Yeosang taunted, “it shows, Joongie.”

“I haven’t had a reason too,” Hongjoong snarked. He lunged forward suddenly, driving Yeosang a few steps back. “Be careful what you ask for. I’d hate to have to end this too quickly.”

Yeosang took the few steps back and found himself coming close to the main mast. Acting quickly, he used it as a springboard to vault himself over the captain and back onto the open part of the deck.

Hongjoong was actually impressed by Yeosang’s agility. He didn’t know the younger man had that in him. He would have to praise him for it later. For now, he just spun around and readjusted to where Yeosang had landed, unfortunately for him, it was on his blind side.

“Catch me if you can,” Yeosang taunted, darting even further into Hongjoong’s blind spot as the captain spun, trying to find him. He ran almost a full circle around him before the captain turned back the other way, giving Yeosang the perfect chance to surprise him, disarm him, and knock him on his back, sword held to his throat. “I win,” he said with a grin.

Hongjoong’s chest was heaving as he lay on the deck, staring up at Yeosang. “You win,” he acknowledged. He was going to have to practice listening for his opponents more than watching them. He couldn’t let his blind spot land him in trouble too early in a fight.

Yeosang pecked Hongjoong’s lips before standing up, offering the captain his hand. He passed his sword off to Seonghwa. He knew the first mate would push Hongjoong on his blind side.

Hongjoong let Yeosang help him to his feet. He was frustrated now but he could burn all of that off with Seonghwa. He raised his sword again and immediately lunged at his first mate.

Yeosang headed back over to check in with Woonggi and Mingi. “Oh, Woonggi-ah, those look great,” he praised. The boy had picked up everything he had shown him almost perfectly.

Woonggi bowed his head slightly. It was the best way he knew how to thank someone for their praise. It was also how he hid his small smile. He did his best to keep his face neutral at all times when working but it made him so happy to be praised. He only got praised when he was doing a good job and this was the only way he didn’t get punished.

“You’ve done a really good job today,” Yeosang said, reaching to ruffle the boy’s hair.

Woonggi jumped and did his best not to flinch back when Yeosang raised his hand, but it was only to mess up his hair. He was confused. No one had ever done that to him before.

“I’m gonna go watch the captain spar some more,” Yeosang said, “when you and Mingi finish these, come find me and we’ll finish up those linens, okay?”

Woonggi nodded. He worked in silence next to Mingi until all of the ropes were braided. With Mingi’s instruction, he went over to find Yeosang. He approached the sparrers slowly. The captain seemed angry by the way his teeth were barred and his eyes were filled with determination.

Yeosang jumped when something touched his elbow but relaxed when he realized it was just Woonggi. “Hey, kiddo,” he said, “do you wanna watch or go finish the linens?”

Woonggi pulled his hand away when Yeosang jumped. He hadn’t meant to scare him. It took him a moment to register that the man wasn’t angry and was just asking him a question. He shook his head and pointed at Yeosang. It wasn’t up to him what they did next. He knew he should get back to work as soon as possible but if Yeosang wanted to watch first, that’s what they would do.

“Me? Huh? Oh, you want me to decide?” Yeosang realized, “I don’t really care either way, but you seem nervous near the swords. Let’s go do the linens then we can go see what Wooyoung and Jisu are up to.”

Woonggi relaxed when they headed back downstairs away from sparring. He was happy to finish working and get back to Jisu. He wanted to make sure the older boy was okay.

Yeosang helped Woonggi fold the linens and put them away before they headed back up to find Wooyoung and Jisu.

Jisu picked his head up when he heard footsteps approach them. He rushed over when he saw it was Woonggi and Yeosang. “How did it go? Are you okay?” he asked, fussing over the boy.

Woonggi nodded, keeping close to Jisu. “Just did chores,” he mumbled quietly so Yeosang and Wooyoung couldn’t hear him.

Jisu frowned. He hadn’t wanted Woonggi to get stuck doing work again but they didn’t have an option right now. “I’m glad everything went well,” he said. He wrapped an arm around Woonggi and pulled the younger boy against his side.

“Woonggi’s really good at braiding rope,” Yeosang said, “he could even give you a run for your money, Woo.”

“Woonggi’s good at everything,” Jisu praised, “he’s a really fast learner.”

“I can tell,” Yeosang said, “I’m sure you guys will settle in in no time.”

Jisu hoped that was true, but he was still skeptical. As long as the captain didn’t do anything to Woonggi, he was sure that would be true.

“Wooyoungie, why don’t you take these two and start working on supper?” Yeosang suggested.

“Come on, Woonggi,” Jisu said. He guided the younger boy by the shoulder down to the galley with Wooyoung. Hopefully Woonggi would be able to get a break after supper. He didn’t like the boy working this much.

Yeosang headed back up on deck to check in on the sparring. Hongjoong was already improving on his blind side. 

Hongjoong noticed Yeosang come back up onto the deck. Not wanting the younger man to watch him be bested again, he lunged at Seonghwa. Forgoing most of his strategy, he used his brute strength and stamina to drive his first mate backwards. Eventually he had him pinned against the main mast with a sword against his throat. “Again,” he said, immediately pulling away.

Yeosang just rolled his eyes fondly. The captain’s ego always made him laugh. 

Seonghwa wasn’t going easy on Hongjoong after losing. The sound of yelling and the clanging of metals filled the deck. The more Hongjoong pushed, the more Seonghwa pushed back. Neither of them were willing to give the other even an inch. Everything was going well but the duel came to a screeching halt when Seonghwa’s sword caught Hoongjoong in the cheek. Both men immediately lowered their swords and stepped back. “That’s enough,” the captain said quietly.

“Are you okay?” Yeosang asked, concerned. He came over to inspect the captain’s cheek. 

“I’m fine,” Hongjoong said, stepping back from Yeosang. “Yunho, step up. You and Mingi can spar until dinner.”

“Wooyoung and the kids are working on dinner now,” Yeosang said, “that Woonggi is a fast learner, let me tell you.”

“Good,” Hongjoong said, “and the other one? Is he a good worker?”

“I assume so,” Yeosang said, “Wooyoung didn’t seem to have any complaints.”

Hongjoong hummed. “I’m glad they’re useful so far,” he said, “keep an eye on them for the rest of the night and have Jongho bring a plate of food to my room when it’s ready.”

“Are you sure your cheek is okay?” Yeosang asked. 

“It’s fine,” Hongjoong said again. He dropped his voice. “If you insist you can check it when you come back to my room for the night.”

“Alright, alright,” Yeosang acquiesced, “go get some rest, Captain.”

Hongjoong nodded. “Good work today,” he said, before taking his leave and retiring to his room.

Yeosang headed back down to the galley to help Wooyoung and the boys finish up supper. When everyone came in to eat, he had Jongho bring a plate to the captain. After dinner, he helped the boys clean up and showed them where their new room was. “If you ever need anything, San’s next door and the captain and I are across the hall.”

“Thank you,” Jisu said. He waited for Yeosang to leave before putting more salve on Woongi’s shoulder and redressing it. After that he took the younger boy by the hand and brought him right into San’s room.

Yeosang stepped into the captain’s room, closing and locking the door behind him. “How are you feeling?” he asked, “being a sore loser?”

Hongjoong narrowed his eyes. “I’m not being a sore loser,” he said flatly, “if you’re going to be like this, I’ll make you sleep with Yunho.”

“Ew,” Yeosang said, wrinkling his nose, “c’mere, let me see your cheek.”

Hongjoong turned his head to let Yeosang inspect his cheek. He did his best to keep the younger man in his field of vision. After today he was going to be much more cautious of anyone in his blind spot.

“It’s definitely going to bruise, but it shouldn’t be too bad,” Yeosang said, “good thing you chose to use dull swords.”

Hongjoong pulled away from Yeosang. “It’s not worth any of us getting hurt that badly,” he said, “you know we wouldn’t start training with sharpened swords.”

“Probably shouldn’t use them at all until you’re more comfortable with your blind spot,” Yeosang said, “but that’s a tomorrow problem. I believe you have a bet to make good on.”

Hongjoong smirked. “I guess I do. Although you have to be nice to me to make up for yesterday,” he said.

“Oh, I’ll be plenty nice,” Yeosang said, pushing Hongjoong back toward the bed.

“I don’t trust you,” Hongjoong said. Regardless, he obediently backed up and took a seat on the edge of the bed. 

Yeosang settled himself neatly in Hongjoong’s lap. “I mean, the deal is that you’re at my mercy,” he said. 

Hongjoong wrapped his arms around Yeosang, holding him in place. “Right but you owe me for yesterday getting interrupted,” he said, “you can be a little nice.”

“Just a little,” Yeosang agreed. He leaned down and kissed Hongjoong heatedly. 

Hongjoong didn’t have time to protest. He kissed Yeosang back hungrily, trying to make up for what he was denied the day before. His hands slid to the younger man’s sides and his grip tightened.

“It was so hot watching you fight Seonghwa like that,” Yeosang mumbled. 

Hongjoong smiled against Yeosang’s mouth. “I haven’t had the chance to show off for you in so long,” he said between kisses.

“You haven’t,” Yeosang agreed. He pushed Hongjoong to lay down on his back.

Hongjoong easily laid back. He glanced up at Yeosang with lidded eyes. “You look so good sitting on me like this,” he said, “but don’t get used to it.”

Yeosang just rolled his eyes and slid his hands under Hongjoong’s shirt. “You have too many clothes on,” he commented, pushing the fabric up.

“Well, seeing as I’m at your mercy, that sounds like your problem,” Hongjoong said nonchalantly. He lifted his hands above his head so Yeosang could slide his shirt the rest of the way off.

Yeosang pushed Hongjoong’s shirt all the way off and let his fingers trace over the tattoo on his chest. “I’ve always wanted one of these,” he said. 

“I can give you one if you really want,” Hongjoong said, “just draw me what you want and I’ll get some supplies at our next stop.”

“I’m probably too scarred for it to work,” Yeosang said softly. He pulled his own shirt off, exposing the scarring on his back and across his chest.

Hongjoong reached up and traced the scars gently. “We could find a spot,” he murmured.

Yeosang shivered involuntarily. “Don’t worry about it now,” he said, gently pushing Hongjoong’s hand away, “all you need to worry about right now is getting your pants off and finding the oil.”

“You know where the oil is,” Hongjoong said, “and I can’t exactly get my pants off with you on me.” He pushed his hips up against Yeosang’s.

Yeosang rolled off of Hongjoong, flopping onto the mattress. “I changed my mind,” he said, “I’d rather you have your way with me.”

Hongjoong raised his eyebrows. “Well then, come sit up,” he said, “your mouth has done an awful lot of talking today and I want to put it to good use.”

Yeosang sat up, leaning back against Hongjoong’s pillows. “Do you now?” he asked.

“I do,” Hongjoong said, “you haven’t sucked me off in a long time and I want to take advantage of this.” He stood up from the bed and kicked his pants off.

“I don’t wanna kneel on the floor, so you’ve gotta come here,” Yeosang said, “and don’t be too rough. San made fun of me all day last time.”

Hongjoong smirked “I’ll be nice this time. I promise,” he said. He climbed onto the bed and positioned himself in front of Yeosang.

Yeosang reached up with his hand and leaned forward to seal his lips around the head of Hongjoong’s cock. He looked up at the captain with wide eyes. 

Hongjoong groaned quietly. “Don’t do this to me,” he mumbled. His hand slid between Yeosang’s hair and his pillow so he could thread his fingers through the younger man’s hair.

Yeosang just sank down slowly, taking as much of Hongjoong’s cock as he could and using his hand to cover the rest. He kept his eyes on the captain, feigning innocence.

Hongjoong moaned loudly. Yeosang always knew just how to get him. “You feel so good, baby,” he praised, “but this act won’t save you forever. I know what you’re capable of.”

Yeosang bobbed his head a few slow times before pulling off and sucking one of Hongjoong’s balls into his mouth instead.

Hongjoong gasped and barely caught himself from falling over. “Oh, you’ll be the death of me,” he groaned.

Yeosang grinned haughtily as he pulled away. “You are still at my mercy even if you’re on top,” he said.

Hongjoong grabbed Yeosang by the chin. “You may have bested me on the deck, but you will not in here,” he said, “now I think it is you who have a little too much clothing on. Up with your hips.”

Yeosang lifted his hips obediently, kicking off his pants. He laid back, smirking. “Now what?”

“Now you wait for me to find the oil,” Hongjoong said. He climbed off the bed and easily found the small pot. “We’re going to need to fill this soon.” 

“How red do you think Jongho’s face will get when I ask him to get some the next time we dock?” Yeosang asked.

Hongjoong smirked. “Oh very,” he said, “although he’s been getting closer with San so he might surprise you this time.” He set the oil within arm’s reach and climbed back onto the bed.

Yeosang reached for Hongjoong’s neck and pulled him down into another wet kiss. They hadn’t been able to actually take their time with being intimate in a while.

Hongjoong happily let himself be pulled into another kiss. Everything had been so tense and stressful lately and he was grateful for the chance to unwind. For once, he had no plans on getting rough.

“Alright, alright, I’m ready,” Yeosang said finally, “open me up.”

‘Come on, baby, we don’t have to go that fast,” Hongjoong said quietly, “let me enjoy you a little.” His hand slid down Yeosang’s body and his finger traced small circles around the younger man’s hip.

“That doesn’t mean you get to be a tease,” Yeosang said with a pout.

“I’m not going to be,” Hongjoong said. His hand slid over and gently wrapped his hand around Yeosang’s cock. “I wanna take care of you tonight. Everything’s been so hectic lately. I haven’t been able to appreciate you like you deserve.”

Yeosang’s breath caught in his throat when Hongjoong finally touched him. No one got to see the captain this gentle but him and he loved that.

“You’re so beautiful,” Hongjoong said, dipping down to kiss Yeosang below his collarbone, “and I love that you’re all mine.”

Yeosang exhaled shakily. It wasn’t all that long ago that Hongjoong had felt very differently, but they had long since resolved those issues.

Hongjoong pressed gentle kisses across Yeosang’s chest and up his throat. “I think the crew needs a little reminder. I fear there might be some wandering eyes,” he said, beginning to suck a mark high on Yeosang’s neck.

Yeosang didn’t even have it in him to protest. He knew San would tease him, but he found that he honestly didn’t care.

Hongjoong smiled when Yeosang stayed complacent. He continued to suck a mark until he was satisfied with how dark it was. He pulled both his lips and hand away and reached for the oil. “Ready, baby? I promise I’ll go nice and slow today,” he said.

Yeosang nodded, readjusting himself underneath Hongjoong until he was comfortable.

Hongjoong gently pushed Yeosang’s legs open and settled in between them. He slicked up his first finger and pressed it to Yeosang’s entrance. He let his finger circle a couple of times before slowly pushing in.

Yeosang gasped and his eyes fluttered closed. He was almost not used to Hongjoong being so gentle, since they normally had to be quick.

“Feel good?” Hongjoong asked with a small smile, “you’re so good for me. I’m going to reward you tonight.” Usually he would have at least two fingers, sometimes three, in Yeosang by now, but he was actually enjoying taking their time.

Yeosang nodded almost imperceptibly. “You can move,” he said, practically begging Hongjoong to give him any sort of friction.

“You’re so needy, baby,” Hongjoong said, but he obliged. Meanwhile his lips were pressing gentle kisses everywhere they could reach. It was unusual for him to be this affectionate but he needed this tonight.

Yeosang’s hand came up and caught Hongjoong’s cheek, guiding him back for another real kiss. If there was one thing to be said about the captain, it was that he was a  _ very  _ good kisser.

Hongjoong moaned into Yeosang’s mouth. He let the younger man guide the kiss as he pushed in a second finger. They were venturing into uncharted territory for them and he didn’t want to scare Yeosang off by taking too much control. It was something he had been working a lot on over the past year.

Yeosang brought his knees up, opening himself up even more for the captain. He was happy that Hongjoong was taking it slow. It wasn’t often that he let the captain be on top of him.

“I love having you like this,” Hongjoong whispered, “letting me take care of you and appreciate you. It’s so much nicer than your usual teasing.”

“Don’t get used to it,” Yeosang mumbled, “teasing you is too much fun.”

Hongjoong hummed. “Well you’ll have to earn your privileges to tease me again,” he said, “until then I get to enjoy you.” He gently pushed in a third finger. 

Yeosang whined at the stretch. “Your fingers feel so good,” he said. 

Hongjoong smiled. “I’m going to make you feel even better in a few minutes,” he said, “tell me, what would you do without me to make you feel so good?”

“God, nothing,” Yeosang whined, “nothing would compare.”

Hongjoong smirked. “That’s right. There’s no one on these seas or off that can make you feel this good,” he said. Deciding Yeosang was stretched enough, he pulled out his fingers and wiped them on the sheets. “Ready for me?”

Yeosang took a deep breath and nodded. He reached for Hongjoong’s clean hand and threaded their fingers together.

Hongjoong smiled softly. He loved this kind of intimacy. He slicked himself up and lined up, giving Yeosang a moment before pushing in with a groan.

Yeosang gasped and his head tipped back, exposing his throat. “Oh, fuck,” he moaned. 

Hongjoong leaned down, teasing his teeth against Yeosang’s neck. “Does that feel good, baby?” he asked softly. This was the first time in a very long time that Yeosang was properly stretched and he felt absolutely amazing.

Yeosang nodded weakly. It felt absolutely incredible. He was glad that they had taken it slow. The payoff was so worth it.

“And who’s making you feel so good?” Hongjoong asked, voice low. He slowly began to roll his hips. Yeosang felt incredible around him. He didn’t know why they didn’t take things this slow more often.

“Hongjoong-ah,” Yeosang whined desperately, “don’t tease.”

“I’m not teasing,” Hongjoong forced out as his hips increased their speed, “answer my question.”

“Y-You,” Yeosang stuttered. His hand let go of Hongjoong’s and dug into the sheets instead, grounding himself. The bed was starting to creak as Hongjoong’s thrusts increased in both speed and force and it wasn’t long before he was moaning loudly.

“That’s right,” Hongjoong growled. He relished in all the moans that were falling from Yeosang’s lips. It took all of his self control not to absolutely ravage Yeosang right there and then but he wanted the younger man to feel good. He slowed his hips ever so slightly but kept the same intensity. 

“No, don’t slow down,” Yeosang begged, “please, Joongie, I need you.”

“I-I want to enjoy you,” Hongjoong groaned. He didn’t want to disappoint Yeosang so he obediently increased the speed of his thrusts. Yeosang felt absolutely amazing around him and his brain was having a hard time keeping up. He felt like he was floating and he hadn’t even reached his edge yet.

“Yes, baby, right there,” Yeosang moaned. His arms came up to wrap around Hongjoong’s neck.

Hongjoong absolutely melted when Yeosang called him baby. It was very rare for Yeosang to use pet names and only reserved for extremely intimate moments like this one. Hongjoong’s head fell forward and he rested it against the younger man’s shoulder. “I-I’m close,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper.

“Yes, yes, baby, me too, right there, c’mon,” Yeosang babbled. He was so close, he could almost feel the edge.

Hongjoong had tried to hold on a little longer but he came completely undone the moment he was called baby again. “Oh God, Kenta!” he cried as he came hard. His chest was heaving and it took him a moment to be able to pick his head up off of Yeosang’s chest. Oh. Yeosang. Hongjoong’s eyes widened as he stared down at the younger man. What had he done?


	6. Chapter 6

Yeosang felt like he’d been doused by a bucket of ice water. Everything froze as he registered what Hongjoong had said. Once it had processed, he shoved the captain off of him, not even wincing as he slipped out of him. He hurriedly gathered up his clothes, pulling his pants on as he made his way to the door. He slammed it behind him, leaving Hongjoong in bed. He should have known.

“Yeosang, wait!” Hongjoong called, but it was too late. He sat back on the bed and ran a hand through his hair. He didn’t know what to think. He thought after all this time, he would have been over Kenta, but he couldn’t lie to himself. Losing the older man still hurt, but he couldn’t believe he had done this to Yeosang. He was so angry with himself. Out of the corner of his eye he caught the pot of oil so he grabbed it and whipped it at the wall. The jar shattered, covering the floor in oil and glass but it didn’t help.

Tears gathered in Yeosang’s eyes as he struggled to do up his belt and tug his shirt on. Of course Hongjoong had just been using him. That was the deal, wasn’t it? The only reason the captain had let him stay was to fulfill his fantasy of having Kenta again, Yeosang  _ knew  _ that. So why did it hurt so much?

Hongjoong just sat in bed, feeling numb. He didn’t know what to think. He didn’t even know what to do. The only thing he did know was that the ache in his chest was almost unbearable. 

Yeosang finally got his clothes fixed. He didn’t want to deal with whoever was on deck keeping watch, so he stumbled into the galley instead. As soon as he entered, he spied the barrel of mead and made his way across the room toward it.

Hongjoong knew that he couldn’t spend the rest of the night in his room. Instead he headed up to the deck and sent Mingi to his room. He knew there was no way he would be getting any sleep and if he was going to be awake it was going to be doing something that would need his attention, like keeping watch.

Yeosang was two tankards in when he finally came up for air. He sat down heavily at the table. How could he have not seen this coming?

Thankfully Mingi went quietly, although Hongjoong was sure he was going to talk to Seonghwa. But he wasn’t worried about that right now. All he was worried about was making sure his ship stayed on track. 

Yeosang wasn’t quite sure when he started crying, but he knew it was somewhere around his fourth full tankard. He knew the deal, and it wasn’t like he was in love with Hongjoong or anything. So why did it hurt so much?

Hongjoong was pulled from his thoughts when something wet hit his hand. He glanced up at the sky but there wasn’t a cloud to be seen. It dawned on him a moment later that it was a tear. He angrily wiped at his eyes. He didn’t deserve to cry. This was all his fault.

At some point, Yeosang gave up on drinking and just sobbed into his palms. He cried until he had nothing left and then he fell asleep, right there at the table.

Hongjoong hadn’t realized how much time had passed until Yunho tapped on his shoulder. He sent the younger man back downstairs to get more sleep. He would sleep while the rest of the crew was awake so he wouldn’t have to deal with any of them today.

Seonghwa rubbed his eyes as he made his way into the galley to start on breakfast. He stopped short when he saw what was in there. The floor and table were covered in alcohol and there, passed out in the middle of it, was Yeosang. Seonghwa didn’t even think he’d ever seen the doctor drink before. He backed out of the galley and went to find Hongjoong instead.

Hongjoong glanced up when he saw Seonghwa. The sun was beginning to rise and he knew it wouldn’t be long before the crew was working. “Keep the crew busy today. I don’t care what the kids do as long as they’re useful. Keep us sailing in this direction. If you hit any rough patches, correct north, other than that head straight on,” he ordered.

“Your boyfriend is passed out drunk in the galley,” Seonghwa said bluntly, “are you going to handle that or do I need to?”

Hongjoong’s eyes widened. Yeosang? Was drunk? That didn’t add up at all. He knew going in there would be a bad idea so he decided to take Seonghwa up on his offer. “Have Jongho clean him up and move him to a spare room to sleep it off,” he said, “I’ll deal with him when he wakes up.”

“He gave the only spare room to the kids,” Seonghwa said, “but we can move him down to the infirmary. Did something happen last night?”

“Move him down to the infirmary then. I’m sure he’ll need something from down there when he wakes up,” Hongjoong said, ignoring Seonghwa’s question.

Seonghwa just rolled his eyes and went to find Jongho. He would badger Hongjoong later.

San was still half asleep as he headed down to the galley. He stopped mid stretch when he saw Yeosang asleep on the table. The next thing he noticed was the overpowering smell of alcohol. He had seen several members of the crew like this, but never the doctor. Cautiously he approached the sleeping man and shook his shoulder. “Hey. This isn’t really a great spot to sleep if you’re trying not to get found,” he said.

Yeosang groaned when he felt someone shaking him. He swatted away whoever it was. “Fuck off,” he mumbled.

San had to fight back a laugh. He knew he had to take advantage of this while he had it. “Hey now that’s not a very nice way to talk to someone who’s trying to help you,” he said, “now come on. How are you supposed to patch your lover boy up from getting his ass kicked in this state?”

Yeosang finally forced one of his eyes open and glared up at San. “What lover boy?” he muttered, turning away.

“The lover boy you woke me up fucking last night,” San grumbled, “you’re lucky my brother didn’t hear you or you’d have much bigger problems to worry about than having a few too many.”

“Yeah, well, he’s not mine,” Yeosang grumbled, gesturing at the mess around him, “clearly.”

“Well, shit, this sure isn’t my problem so you better figure it out,” San said, “but you do need some practice. You really can’t hold your liquor. It’s kinda embarrassing. Seonghwa could probably do better than this and I’ve never seen him drink.”

“Just leave me alone already,” Yeosang said, dropping his head back down on his arms.

“Hell no,” San said gleefully, “come on,  _ Yeosangie _ , this is fun! What do you think the rest of the crew is gonna say when they come in here?”

“Hopefully they’ll tell you to fuck off and then toss me off the fuckin’ stern,” Yeosang replied, voice muffled by his arms.

San frowned. This wasn’t like Yeosang at all. “Damn, what the fuck got into you?” he asked, “who are you and what did you do to our Yeosang?”

“ _ Our Yeosang _ ,” he repeated mockingly, “there’s no such thing. Just...leave me alone, San. Please.”

San raised his hands. “Fine. Have fun trying to talk to the crew like this. Just make sure you don’t throw up on any of them,” he said. He turned on his heel and returned to his brother and Woonggi.

When San left, Yeosang forced himself up from the table. He stopped once he was standing, closing his eyes to force the nausea away. Moving slowly, he washed his tankard and grabbed the mop.

San peeked into his brother’s room and was glad both boys were still sleeping. He snuck back to his own room and shook Jongho awake. “Guess who I just found passed out drunk in the galley!” he said gleefully.

Yeosang slowly mopped up the mess in the galley, pausing a few times to make sure he didn’t throw up. Once he deemed it good enough, he staggered back to the captain’s room to get clean clothes then went to hide in the infirmary.

San gleefully told Jongho what he had found. “Did you help him?” the younger boy asked. “Hell no!” San scoffed as he flopped back down on the bed, “he told me to fuck off so I did. Captain’s gonna be  _ pissed _ when he finds him. I can’t wait.”

Yeosang knew he needed to sober up so he was presentable when Woonggi inevitably came to find him. He didn’t need the child seeing any of this.

Hongjoong promptly locked the door when he returned to his room. He ripped the dirty sheets off of his bed angrily and tossed them to the side. He didn’t worry about replacing them before collapsing back onto the bed. He was sure Seonghwa understood that he would be running the ship for the day. 

It wasn’t long before there was a small knock on the infirmary door and Woonggi peeked his head in. Yeosang really wasn’t any more sober, but he forced a smile for the sake of the child anyway. “Why don’t you go around and collect everyone’s bed linens so we can wash them?” he suggested in a quiet voice.

Woonggi could tell immediately that something was wrong and that made him nervous. He had to make sure he did extra good today so that he didn’t make Yeosang more upset. He hurried off, first going to find Jisu so he could tell him what he needed. He went around to all the rooms collecting everyone’s linens. Finally he stopped at the captain’s room and knocked on the door. When nothing happened he tried opening the door but found that it was locked. He was about to knock again when suddenly there were loud footsteps and the door swung open. “What the fuck is going on?” Hongjoong spat as he flung the door open. Woonggi leapt back in surprise and just held up the bundle of linens he was holding. Hongjoong took a deep breath before retreating into the room to get the linens. He also gave the boy all of their extra clothes. “I highly suggest you don’t knock on my door again unless you have an exceptionally good reason,” he said coldly. Woonggi nodded quickly and dashed back downstairs.

Yeosang forced his eyes open when he heard small footsteps coming back toward the infirmary. “Good job,” he said, slowly standing up, “let’s go up to the galley.”

Woonggi watched Yeosang uncertainly. He was starting to get scared. Yeosang was so nice to him yesterday, but today he seemed completely different. He obediently followed the man upstairs, but stayed an extra step behind him.

“The linens can go in the sink,” Yeosang said when they got there, taking a seat in his abandoned chair from before, “separate out any clothing. We’ll wash those later.”

Woonggi put the linens in the sink and set the small pile of clothing to the side. He took it upon himself to begin washing the linens like how Yeosang had taught him yesterday.

Yeosang kept a vague eye on Woonggi as the boy worked. He was impressed that the boy remembered exactly how to do it. “You can wash the clothes the same way, just use the soap mixture instead of the bleach,” Yeosang said.

Woonggi nodded, making sure Yeosang could see him. He finished washing all of the linens, making sure they were as clean as possible before setting them neatly to the side. Then he put all of the clothes into the sink and began to wash those with the soap mixture.

Yeosang slowly stood up and made his way to the cabinets to find some bread. He hoped something simple would help settle his stomach a bit.

Woonggi kept a nervous eye on Yeosang. He was waiting for the man to explode at him any second now. He washed the clothes meticulously, scared of what would happen if he left a stain. 

“That’s probably good enough,” Yeosang said, “here, put them in this tub and we’ll bring them up to the quarterdeck.” He pushed a metal tub over to Woonggi with his foot.

Woonggi snagged the tub and put all the linens and clothes in it. He pointed for Yeosang to stay where he was and hoisted the tub into his arms. It was a bit heavy for him but he knew he could manage. It would be better for both of them for Yeosang to stay down here.

“No, hey, you’re gonna hurt yourself,” Yeosang said, taking one side of the tub to help Woonggi carry the laundry upstairs. 

Woonggi was shocked when Yeosang helped him carry the bucket. The men he used to work for never helped him. If he wasn’t strong enough to do something, he would get beat. The only help he would get was when Jisu was able to sneak over to him, but that was rare.

“I’m not mad,” Yeosang said quietly, “I’m just hungover. You’re doing great.”

Woonggi just watched Yeosang. He didn’t believe that he wasn’t mad. Hungover men were always angry and drunk men were even angrier.

“Okay, well, actually, I am mad,” Yeosang amended, “but I’m not mad at you.”

Woonggi knew it. Just because Yeosang claimed that he wasn’t upset with him didn’t mean it would stay like that. And he definitely wasn’t going to do anything to risk it. When they got up to the quarterdeck, he started hanging up the new stuff to dry. 

Yeosang helped Woonggi hang up the linens, leaving the clothes in the tub.

Woonggi glanced up at Yeosang when they were done with the linens. He picked up the tub, which was much more manageable now and waited for his next instruction.

Yeosang led Woonggi to the storage room downstairs where they hung clothes. That made them more accessible when someone inevitably did laundry too late.

Woonggi hung up the clothes. He hoped he didn’t have to do too much more overhead reaching. His shoulder was starting to get sore and he wasn’t sure when he would be able to more salve on it.

“These are the captain’s so we can just leave them and he’ll come get them later,” Yeosang said.

Woonggi didn’t like that idea at all but he nodded anyway. He had a feeling the captain was going to be very upset if he had to come get his own laundry. He knew he couldn’t go against Yeosang now so he decided he would bring the clothes back on his own later.

Yeosang figured Hongjoong was probably in his room so he led Woonggi back up to the quarter deck. “You can just hang out up here for now,” he said, “there’s nothing to be done until we start prepping lunch.”

Woonggi nodded again. That was weird. He usually didn’t get a break from work until it was time to sleep.

“Here, you can braid some more rope if you want,” Yeosang said, dragging the crate of ropes over, “I’m gonna go relieve Wooyoung in the crow’s nest. If you need anything, you can ask him for it, alright?”

Woonggi nodded and reached for the ropes. He felt better having his hands busy, especially if the captain did come back out.

Yeosang called Wooyoung down and climbed up to the crow’s nest himself. He understood why San hid out here so much. He could see everyone and none of them could see him.

Woonggi sat on the step, diligently braiding the rope. The sun was slowly beginning to rise in the sky. Even though it was still the morning he could tell that today was going to be hot.

Yeosang settled down in the crow’s nest, keeping an eye out for other ships. Maybe he could just hang out here for the rest of the day and leave Woonggi to Wooyoung. 

Woonggi looked up when Wooyoung came over. He briefly showed him what he was working on before going back to braiding. This box would definitely keep him busy for most of the day until they had something else for him to do.

“Hey, Woonggi-ah,” Mingi said, walking up the steps to the quarterdeck, “why don’t you move back into shade, bud?”

Woonggi glanced up and shielded his eyes so he could see who it was. He was used to working in the sun but not wanting to protest, he simply picked up the box and moved it to where the shade was. Thankfully it wasn’t that far and that he had taken quite a bit of rope out of the box because it was heavy for him.

“These look good,” Mingi said, “mind if I join you?”

Wonggi scooted over to make room for Mingi on the step he was sitting on. He thought it was strange that the man would want to stay with him but he was sure it was just to keep an eye on him. 

Mingi grabbed one of the unfinished ropes and started braiding alongside Woonggi. “Did you and Jisu sleep well last night?” he asked.

Woonggi nodded. He had slept as well as he could have, being in a new place. He paused when he noticed Mingi pick up some of the ropes. He pointed to it and then quickly pointed to himself. This was his job to work on and he couldn’t have help.

“Huh? Oh, it’s okay,” Mingi said, “it’ll get done faster if I help you anyway. This isn’t really a chore that ever gets completed. Can’t have too much rope!”

Woonggi was uncertain. Yeosang already wasn’t in a good mood today and he didn’t want to make it worse. But he also knew he couldn’t argue with Mingi. He really hated being in the middle of two people; he never knew who to listen to.

“No one’s gonna hurt you for having or needing help,” Mingi said, lowering his voice, “you guys really are safe here. Or, as safe as you can be with a bunch of pirates, I guess.”

Woonggi did his best to keep his face neutral so Mingi didn’t know he didn’t believe him. He simply nodded and continued braiding the rope. Even though Jisu’s brother was here, that didn’t mean they were completely safe.

“If you wanted to learn some self defense, I’m sure any of these guys would teach you,” Mingi continued, “then no one can hurt you again.”

Woonggi’s eyes widened. He couldn’t learn self defense. Even if he did know, he wouldn’t be strong enough to fend any of the men off. And he definitely would make them angry if he tried to fight back and that wasn’t worth it. It was just easier to take their initial anger.

“But that’s up to you,” Mingi said, “you don’t have to if you don’t want to. No one will make you do anything. Not even the chores.”

That didn’t make sense at all. Maybe he would have some choices now but he didn’t have a choice about chores. He had to do the chores. He had to be useful or the captain was going to be angry and get rid of them.

“Yeosang is just teaching you so you know your way around and can do stuff if someone asks you to,” Mingi continued, “but even then, you can say no.”

Woonggi shook his head. He would never say no to anyone. Even if he didn’t want to do chores, it was better to be doing something than be locked in his room all day. At least he would get some fresh air and sun and exercise.

“No one is going to force you to do anything or go anywhere, not even the captain,” Mingi said, “especially since you’ve got Yeosang on your side.”

Woonggi frowned and shook his head more forcefully. He didn’t like that Mingi kept insisting on this. He knew it wasn’t true and he wasn’t going to let himself get tricked again into trusting people.

“I was stuck where you were too,” Mingi admitted quietly, seeing how nervous Woonggi still looked, “this ship saved me.”

Woonggi’s eyes widened. This ship had saved Mingi? He still didn’t trust the man entirely but he knew how to figure out if he was telling the truth. He put the rope he was braiding down and pushed up his shirt to reveal the line that had been permanently marked into his skin around his ribcage.

Mingi smiled sadly and pushed up his own shirt sleeve to show Woonggi the line tattooed around his bicep like a band.

Woonggi gasped quietly when he saw the line. Mingi was really telling the truth. He had never thought anyone other than Jisu would understand. 

“No one here knows but you,” Mingi said, “but I know you can keep my secret, right?”

Woonggi nodded immediately and made an “X” over his heart with his finger. He wouldn’t even tell Jisu.

“You can tell Jisu, but that’s it,” Mingi warned, “but if you guys ever need anything or if anyone ever hurts you, you come find me, okay?”

Woonggi nodded again, more vigorously this time. He even offered Mingi a small smile. Maybe everything was going to be okay like Jisu promised.

“Let’s finish the ones we’re working on then we can go see if we can help Seonghwa with lunch,” Mingi said.

Woonggi fixed his sleeve and got back to work. He felt a lot better now. He was still nervous but Mingi knew what he had gone through. That had to count for something.

Mingi and Woonggi worked their way through the remainder of their ropes. When they were done, Mingi shoved the crate into a corner to be picked up later and let Woonggi lead the way to the galley.

Woonggi was feeling much more confident, but that confidence faded when they entered the galley and saw the rest of the men sitting around the table. He dropped his eyes and went to find his seat next to Jisu.

“Yeo’s still up in the crow’s nest,” Mingi reported, “but I don’t know that he’s really up for eating right now.” Word had spread quickly through the crew about how San had found the doctor that morning.

“And the captain’s still locked in his room,” Jongho said, “do you want me to bring him some food?”

“You might as well,” Seonghwa said with a sigh, “does anyone know what they fought about last night?”

“No idea,” San said, “although Yeosang was in rare form this morning. He was saying stuff about the captain not being his but I think that was the hangover talking. But he did sound more sad than angry.”

“I’ll bring the plate, Jongho,” Seonghwa said, “I’ll see what I can weasel out of him.”

“Good luck,” San said, “just ‘cause Yeosang isn’t angry doesn’t mean he isn’t.”

Seonghwa grabbed the plate off the table and headed to the captain’s quarters. “I’m coming in,” he said, not even bothering to knock.

Hongjoong didn’t even look up when Seonghwa came in. “I thought I said I didn’t want to be bothered today,” he said quietly.

“Please. I know your orders don’t apply to me,” Seonghwa said. He handed the food to the captain and sat on the end of the bed. “So Yeosang is hungover sulking in the crow’s nest and you’re sulking in here. What did you fight about?”

“I’m not sulking,” Hongjoong said as he took the plate, “don’t worry about it. I’ll make sure he’s better by tomorrow.”

“Nuh uh,” Seonghwa said, crossing his arms, “you can try that shit with the rest of the crew, but you can’t lie to me. What happened?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Hongjoong said forcefully, finally looking up at Seonghwa, “do  _ not  _ push this. What happens between us is  _ none  _ of your concern. Go tell San to stop being a nosy bitch and go run this ship like you’re supposed to.”

“It does matter,” Seonghwa said, “because it affects your mood which affects the rest of us. Just spill already. I’m not leaving without an answer.”

Hongjoong rubbed his forehead. “I said some shit I shouldn’t have and now Yeosang’s upset. I’ll talk to him tomorrow, I promise I just need a day where nothing goes wrong,” he said.

“You and I both know it’s not like him to get upset over something someone said,” Seonghwa said, “and especially not to the point of drinking like that. What did you say?”

“That is none of your business,” Hongjoong snapped, “I highly suggest you quit while you’re ahead and go back to the crew. I am not in the mood for this, Seonghwa.”

“And I’m not in the mood to have to hold your hand through this like some petty teenager, but here we are,” Seonghwa said.

“You don’t have to hold my hand and I’m not a teenager,” Hongjoong said tiredly, “you were the one who came in here looking for information that does not concern you. I really don’t know how much more you want from me.”

“I want you to tell me what the fuck you said to him so I can help you figure out how to fix it,” Seonghwa said impatiently.

Hongjoong narrowed his eyes. “I don’t need your help. I can handle this, okay? If it doesn’t go well tomorrow then I’ll have you talk to Yeosang,” he said.

“With all due respect, Captain, which quite frankly is very little right now, he’s not going to talk to you,” Seonghwa said, “Kang Yeosang has a temper and he knows how to hold a grudge.”

Hongjoong sighed. Seonghwa really was such a pest. “You are worse than San sometimes, I hope you know that,” he grumbled. He knew he wasn’t getting out of this so it was easier to just get it over with. “I called him…I called him Kenta last night.” His voice was barely above a whisper as he admitted what had happened.

“Oh, Hongjoong,” Seonghwa said, disappointed, “I’m not gonna sugarcoat it; you might not be able to come back from that one.”

“Seonghwa,” Hongjoong snapped, “if you’re not going to help, you can leave.” He knew that he would never get Yeosang back after this. It was simply his curse.

“Joong, that’s pretty serious,” Seonghwa said, “especially with Yeosang knowing how similar he looks. I actually don’t know if I have any advice for you. Actually, my advice would be to ask Wooyoung.”

“Ask Wooyoung? I’m not asking Wooyoung anything. Mine and Yeosang’s relationship is nothing like his and Yunho’s,” Hongjoong said, “and I’m not wasting my time on a useless cause. I’ll talk to Yeosang tomorrow and that’ll be the end of it.”

“Wooyoung knows Yeosang the best out of all of us,” Seonghwa said, “if anyone’s going to have any advice on how to apologize, it’ll be him.”

“Okay fine, I’ll talk to him,” Hongjoong agreed to get Seonghwa off his back, “now can you please go keep an eye on my crew? I still want work to be done today.”

“Yunho and San have been sparring all morning, Wooyoung’s had Jisu patching holes in the hold, Mingi and Woonggi have been braiding rope, and Yeo’s on watch,” Seonghwa reported, “everything’s running fine.”

“Oh my God, Seonghwa, what the fuck else do you want?” Hongjoong asked, starting to get angry now, “I told you what happened and you offered your help. There is nothing more to discuss and I am seconds from losing my patience. Unless you would like this to turn much uglier than they already are, I suggest you take your leave.”

“Is it so bad that I want to make sure you’re okay?” Seonghwa asked, “you called him your dead ex’s name, Joong. That doesn’t just  _ happen _ .”

“Well it did and there’s nothing either of us can do about it,” Hongjoong snapped, nearly shouting now. He put the plate to the side and stood from his bed. “Seonghwa, you are really wearing on my patience today.”

“You cannot ignore whatever is happening in your head right now,” Seonghwa said firmly, “you did that last year and nearly lost your entire crew. Get it together.”

“There is nothing going on!” Hongjoong said angrily, “it just happened and now I have to deal with the consequences. Me. Not you. Not anyone else on this crew. Just me. So if you really want me to get it together that badly, you would leave so that I can start fixing this.”

“You know, you would be a lot less miserable if you spent less time forcing this intimidating douchebag persona,” Seonghwa said.

Hongjoong lunged at Seonghwa. He grabbed his first mate by the front of his shirt and shoved him backwards into the wall. “I’m not forcing a persona,” Hongjoong growled, “and if I am that’s none of your concern. The only thing that’s your concern is doing your fucking job.”

Seonghwa grunted when his back hit the wall and he shoved Hongjoong off of him. “I can’t do my job with you running around playing asshole,” he retorted, “I’m your first mate, not your fucking babysitter.”

“They leave me the fuck alone and go be my first mate!” Hongjoong screamed. He was absolutely seething. He had been so much better lately but Seonghwa had worn out his patience in record time.

“Fine,” Seonghwa spat, “but if there’s another mutiny, I’m not taking your side this time. Take some fucking responsibility.” With that, he stormed off.

Hongjoong was sure to lock his door this time. He was shaking as he took a hard seat on the bed. One day. All he wanted was one day where nothing went wrong. Why was that too much to ask for?


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw in this chapter for domestic abuse that occurs in front of children

“Everybody back to work,” Seonghwa barked as he returned to the galley, “and someone relieve Yeosang, he needs to eat.”

Woonggi jumped out of his skin when Seonghwa came back into the galley. He all but rushed out of the room, not even saying anything to Jisu, and back up to the quarterdeck. Something was wrong and he didn’t want to make it worse.

Yeosang was annoyed to have been woken from his nap by Jongho climbing up to switch out with him. He climbed down the ladder slowly and called for Woonggi to come with him.

Woonggi didn’t want to go back to the galley with Yeosang but he knew he couldn’t refuse. Masking his pout, he put down the rope he was working on and followed Yeosang.

Yeosang grabbed the food Seonghwa had made for him and continued out of the galley and down to his infirmary. Setting the plate on his desk, he took down a box off a high shelf and grabbed a couple of leather needles. “I want you to learn how to stitch,” he told Woonggi.

Woonggi nodded. He felt a little better being down here but not quite as comfortable as he was with Mingi.

Yeosang pulled a couple of strips of leather out of the box and threaded a needle. “Cloth and skin aren’t as tough as leather,” he explained as he handed all of it to Woonggi before setting up a set for himself, “so if you can get it down on leather, you can do it on anything. Here, watch.” He showed the boy the simplest method of stitching, then told him to try it.

Woonggi took the leather and the needle. He studied Yeosang’s stitches again before trying his own. He stopped after a few, panicking when he saw much much sloppier they were than Yeosang’s. He did his best to hide the leather from the older man’s view until he could make the stitches correctly.

Yeosang focused on his lunch while Woonggi practiced his stitching. He felt a lot better than he had when he woke up, but he still wasn’t feeling great, so he ate slowly.

Woonggi was grateful that Yeosang didn’t check the leather right away. Only when he had made some neat stitches did he show the older man his work.

“That’s not bad,” Yeosang praised, “it’s okay if it’s not perfect at first. You’ll get better the more you do it.”

Woonggi couldn’t help the sigh of relief that slipped past his lips. He sucked in a breath and flinched back when he realized what he had done. 

“Keep practicing,” Yeosang said, “I’ve got some old socks you can darn too if your hand starts to hurt.”

Woonggi just nodded. He kept stitching around the piece of leather. He didn’t dare to ask for the socks. He was sure Yeosang would give them to him whenever he wanted.

“How has your shoulder been feeling?” Yeosang asked after a while, “you’ve been doing a lot of overhead reaching, I bet you’re sore.”

Woonggi paused and thought for a moment. Eventually he gave Yeosang a thumbs up. Sure his shoulder was a little sore but he could get more salve from Jisu later.

“When you’re done with that, I’d like to take a look at it, okay?” Yeosang said.

Woonggi nodded slowly. He continued stitching until there was no more room left. He set the leather to the side and picked up a new piece to practice with.

Yeosang reached over and picked up the filled piece of the leather. “You’re almost starting to pull them a little too tight,” he said, “leave a little more slack, okay?”

Woonggi nodded hurriedly and bowed his head in an apology. He tried a few new stitches, leaving a little more slack, and handed it to Yeosang to check.

“This is great, Woonggi-ah,” Yeosang praised when he looked at the new stitches, “why don’t you cover this one like you did the last one so you get into the rhythm with that tightness, okay?”

Woonggi took back the piece of the leather and got to work practicing the stitches again. He easily fell into a rhythm and was honestly quite proud of himself for how quickly he had picked this up. It dawned on him that Yeosang really hadn’t been upset with the mistakes he made. That was weird and he definitely wasn’t going to get used to it. The older man must have really been off today. 

Yeosang finished up his food and left Woonggi alone for a moment to bring the plate back to the galley. He grabbed Hongjoong’s clothes as he passed, folding them and dropping them off in front of the captain’s door with a sharp knock before returning to the infirmary.

Woonggi glanced back up when Yeosang returned. The older man had an odd expression on his face. Hesitantly he held out the second piece of the leather that he had finished stitching. Hopefully he did all of it correctly.

“That looks great, kiddo,” Yeosang said with a small smile, “do you wanna go help Jisu patch holes now or do you wanna keep hanging out in here?”

Woonggi didn’t like making decisions. What if he picked the wrong one? He knew it was better for him to keep working but what if Yeosang wanted him to stay? He just pointed at Yeosang, hoping the older man would tell him which one he wanted.

“There’s not much more to do until night watch,” Yeosang said, “but I’m sure your little fingers could help Jisu a lot. Some of those spots are tight.”

Woonggi nodded. He helped Yeosang clean up before going off to find Jisu. He should have asked for water for his brother first. He knew Jisu probably hadn’t gotten a break.

When Woonggi had left, Yeosang picked up his stitchwork again. The boy really was an incredibly fast learner. He wouldn’t be surprised if the traffickers had placed a bounty on his head after his and Jisu’s escape. If they did, he would have to make sure Hongjoong never found out.

Woonggi approached Jisu and tapped the older boy’s shoulder. “Help,” he whispered. Jisu smiled and handed him a small bucket. “This is what I’m using to patch up the holes. We’ll go back and paint over it all after,” he said.

Yeosang sighed and laid down on the cot. He was sure this would be his bedroom now, since he’d given his up to the kids, so he might as well get used to it. 

Woonggi watched Jisu patch a few holes before starting to work himself. He worked on filling all the small holes that Jisu couldn’t reach. He was actually happy to be working with Jisu. He didn’t like being away from the older boy for that long.

“What did you do this morning?” Jisu asked Woonggi conversationally. 

“Hang linens, braid rope, and practice stitching,” he replied quietly. He chewed on his lip before he decided to tell Jisu now. “Mingi has a line too.”

“He does?” Jisu asked, eyes wide, “whoa.” He wouldn’t have expected Mingi, the second biggest of the sailors, to have ever been taken by slavers. 

Woonggi nodded. “Say nothing,” he cautioned. He didn’t want anyone else in the crew to find out.

“I won’t say anything,” Jisu promised. If Mingi had a line and he was safe here, then maybe that meant they were finally safe here too.

Woonggi smiled gratefully. He worked quietly for a few minutes before he remembered he hadn’t checked in on Jisu. “Need water?” he asked uncertainly.

“I’m okay,” Jisu said, “I don’t want you to get in trouble for wandering anyway.”

Woonggi nodded. He continued to work besides Jisu, gradually filling in the holes throughout the hold.

Footsteps thundered down the stairs as Wooyoung came to check on them. “Oh, Woonggi-ah, when did you get here?” he asked.

Woonggi jumped back, causing the bucket in his hand to fall to the ground when there were suddenly loud footsteps on the stairs. He quickly scooped up the bucket before Wooyoung appeared, hoping he didn’t notice. When he finally registered the older man’s question, he held up his thumb and pointer finger a little ways apart to indicate he hadn’t been downstairs for long.

“I wish Yeosang had told me he’d sent you down here, I would have brought a second cup,” Wooyoung said. He set down the pail of water he was holding, which had a tin cup floating in it. “I’ll go get another one, I’ll be right back.”

Woonggi whined loudly, catching Wooyoung’s attention before he left. He shook his head and just pointed to the bucket. He and Jisu could always share the cup.

“Oh, it’s fine, Woonggi-ah,” Wooyoung said with a smile, “I don’t mind. Sit tight, alright?”

Woonggi watched Wooyoung leave with sad eyes. It didn’t make sense. “Why?” he asked Jisu quietly. 

“Why what?” Jisu asked, “you gotta use more words than that.”

Woonggi sniffed. “Why is he being nice?” he asked again. He couldn’t help but worry that this wasn’t going to last for much longer.

“Because you’re so cute,” Jisu guessed, “or because we’re doing good maybe.”

Woonggi hoped it was the second one. He could keep doing a good job forever. He wasn’t going to stay cute forever. Sighing quietly, he just got back to work. He didn’t want Wooyoung to catch him just standing around.

It wasn’t long before Wooyoung was back with a second tin cup, which he dropped in the bucket for Woonggi. “This looks great so far,” he said, “I’ll grab the stain and start going over what you’ve already done.”

Woonggi shook his head and pointed to himself. He could do the staining while Jisu kept working. It didn’t make sense for Wooyoung to work with them if he was supposed to be supervising.

“No, you’ve got a special job,” Wooyoung said, “you’ve gotta get all the little cracks and crevices that Jisu and I can’t get our fingers into.”

Wonggi just nodded. He knew he was wasting too much time trying to reason with Wooyoung so he just got back to work instead. At least now he was with Jisu in case anything went wrong.

Wooyoung smiled as he watched the boys work diligently. They really were good kids, even if the captain didn’t quite see it. He hoped they would relax and settle in soon.

Woonggi only stopped working when he felt a hand on his arm. He glanced up to see Jisu holding out a cup of water to him. He took it gratefully and took a few sips. Suddenly there were more heavy footsteps on the stairs. He dropped the cup back into the pail of water and got back to work just as Yunho entered the hold.

Wooyoung glanced up when he heard footsteps and immediately looked away when he saw who it was. “What do you want?” he asked coldly.

“I’m not in the mood for your attitude so save it,” Yunho growled, “I’m sick of your games and I’m sick of putting in so much effort for nothing. So this is it. You win and you can go run off to Yeosang now that you’re both free.”

“I see you clearly haven’t learned a thing,” Wooyoung said, “figures. You always were shit at paying attention.”

Yunho narrowed his eyes. “The only thing I learned is that you never wanted me back to begin with,” he said, “the deal was that we start over. And we did. I’ve done everything the exact same way I did when we first started and we haven’t even made an ounce of progress. It’s been a year, Wooyoung. And you haven’t moved even an inch. Why the fuck should I put any more effort into you when I can go find someone who actually cares about me?”

“The reason we haven’t gotten any further is because you acted like we had the same starting point as last time when in reality, the starting point was much further away. You did everything the same, sure, but we’re not the same people anymore so that’s not going to work,” Wooyoung said simply. 

Yunho shook his head. “Well this isn’t worth it anymore,” he said, “I tried for a year and I’m done. I miss what we had but I don’t miss it enough to keep trying. You’re right, we’re not the same people anymore and even if this worked I’m never going to get my Wooyoungie back. But I’m not the only problem here. You barely talked to me, you never told me what was wrong, and I know how much time you spend with Yeosang. You sabotaged this from the beginning and I hate that I still put in so much effort for you.”

“Of course you’re never gonna get _your Wooyoungie_ back,” the younger man said with a scoff, “that person doesn’t exist anymore. You murdered him years ago.”

‘I didn’t murder anyone!” Yunho said forcefully, “if this is anyone’s fault, it’s Yeosang’s! You were fine until captain decided to keep that useless slut around.”

“Yeosang didn’t do anything except give me support when I needed it,” Wooyoung said, “take _responsibility_ for once.”

“What do you think I’ve been doing for the past year?” Yunho asked angrily, “I’ve been working so hard to get you back and all he’s been doing is pulling you further and further away from me.”

Wooyoung huffed. “You’re pushing me away on your own by never listening and being so bullheaded.”

“I do listen! I’ve been listening for the past year but now it’s you who’s not listening. I’m _done_ with you, Wooyoung. That’s the only thing that matters now,” Yunho said flatly.

“No you don’t!” Wooyoung said, “or if you do, it’s so that you can do the exact opposite of what I said.”

“I am _not_ having this conversation with you. I have done everything you wanted me to and more and you're just an ungrateful piece of shit who won’t even acknowledge what I’m doing for you,” Yunho said angrily. This conversation was not supposed to have turned into an argument and he was incredibly annoyed.

“You never loved me, Yunho, I don’t believe it,” Wooyoung spat, “just leave me alone.”

“How dare you accuse me of never loving you after everything I’ve done for you?” Yunho screamed, shoving Wooyoung against the wall and pinning him there. “I love you so much. You’re the one who doesn’t care!” Woonggi leapt back and cowered behind Jisu when Yunho started yelling. He didn’t want to get in the middle of this.

“Because you don’t!” Wooyoung yelled back, “all you’ve ever done is lie to me!”

“I have never lied to you! Never!” Yunho bellowed, “I’ve shed so much blood, sweat, and tears for you and all you’ve done in return is turn on me!” He didn’t register hitting Wooyoung until his hand had already collided with the younger man’s cheek.

Wooyoung gasped when Yunho hit him and tears sprung to his eyes. “You promised,” he said weakly, “you promised you would never hurt me again!”

“And you promised you would take me back if we started from the beginning,” Yunho snapped, “and now you know how it feels to be lied to!” All the anger he had held onto for the past year was finally bubbling over. He didn’t even notice the two boys in the corner when he hit Wooyoung again.

“Stop it!” Wooyoung cried, “help! Someone help!”

“Shut up,” Yunho growled. He put one of his hands over Wooyoung’s mouth. “You know what you get when you run your mouth.” 

Jisu couldn’t watch this. He pushed Woonggi away from the commotion into a corner and made a break for the stairs to go find San. Instead, he ran almost directly into the first mate. “You have to help!” he cried.

“I don’t know why I ever wasted my time on you!” Yunho said angrily. He switched hands so he could slap Wooyoung in his opposite cheek, “you’re an ungrateful, useless whore! All you know how to do is lie to people and play with their feelings.”

“Yunho, that’s enough!” Seonghwa bellowed as he stormed down the stairs with Jisu behind him, “if your ass isn’t on deck in the next five seconds, I swear to god, I will _flay you_ within an inch of your life!”

Yunho whirled around, dropping Wooyoung to the floor. “You wouldn’t do that. You’re just like everyone else on this ship, a fucking liar!” he spat.

Seonghwa pulled the switchblade from his boot and shoved Yunho against the wall, holding it to his neck. “You wanna fuckin’ try me?” he demanded, “do you _want_ to _fuckin’ try me_?!”

Yunho kneed Seonghwa as hard as he could and shoved the first mate away from him. “Fuck you!” he screamed.

“Jisu, take Wooyoung to the infirmary,” Seonghwa barked. He grabbed Yunho by the ear, dragging him out of the hold and up on deck.

“Let go of me,” Yunho screamed. He did his best to shove the first mate off of him again but his grip was surprisingly tight.

Seonghwa dragged Yunho all the way up on deck and ordered Mingi to go get the captain. It was time for Yunho to learn his lesson.

Hongjoong threw open his door again and was just about to yell at Mingi when the boy told him what was going on. “Jeong Yunho, I am sick and tired of your bullshit,” he said when he reached the deck, voice deadly quiet.

Wooyoung stumbled up with Jisu’s help and made his way to the infirmary to find Yeosang. Jisu, left alone now, turned in a circle, trying to find Woonggi. “Woonggi-ah, it’s okay, they’re gone now,” he called out, to no response.

Woonggi absolutely panicked when Jisu ran off. There was only one way he knew not to get hurt when someone was angry, and that was to hide. He rushed out of the hold and disappeared down the first set of stairs he found. It was dark whenever he had ended up but he noticed a small wooden door that must have been for a closet. He threw the door open and was sure to shut it behind him before he hid himself against the back wall.

Jisu panicked. He ran back up the stairs and was glad to run into Mingi and the captain. “I can’t find Woonggi,” he said, tears gathering in his eyes.

“Mingi, don’t waste too much time looking for him. He’ll show back up eventually,” Hongjoong said.

“I’ll take care of it, cap,” Mingi said, “c’mon, Jisu, why don’t you show me where you saw him last?”

“I pushed him into a corner of the hold so he would be out of the way but he’s not there any more,” Jisu said, “he hides when he gets really upset but it’s nearly impossible to find him again. I just don’t want him to get hurt.”

“He might have found the door to the lower storage deck,” Mingi mused, “did you get hurt at all? Yunho can be pretty indiscriminate when he goes on a rampage.”

“No I’m okay but I don’t know if Woonggi is. Where’s the lower storage deck? We have to find him quick,” Jisu said nervously.

“It’s through here,” Mingi said, shoving a few boxes aside to reach a door, “careful, there’s not much light down here. This used to be a merchant ship and they stored a lot more cargo than we do. I don’t think I’ve been down here since we first took this ship.”

Jisu followed Mingi closely. He really couldn’t see anything down here. “Woonggi, it’s me,” he called, “it’s okay, you can come out now. You’re safe, I promise.”

“There should be lanterns near the stairs on the deck above us,” Mingi said, “Wanna go grab one?”

“Yeah, I’ll be right back,” Jisu said. He headed back up the stairs to find a couple of lanterns for them to use.

“Woonggi-ah?” Mingi called softly, “it’s just me and Jisu down here. You can come out now.” He stayed stock still, listening, and finally caught a soft sob to his left.

Woonggi had tried to stay as quiet as possible but he couldn’t help himself when he heard Mingi talking. This was it. He was going to get in so much trouble for hiding and not even Jisu would be able to save him.

Mingi turned in that direction and, through the darkness, spied a small door. “Woonggi-ah, you’re not in trouble, I promise,” he said softly as he approached.

Woonggi shrunk back. Mingi had found him. He knew that Mingi was supposed to be nice because he understood but he didn’t believe that he wasn’t in trouble. Maybe Mingi wasn’t mad at him but he was sure someone on this ship was.

“I’m gonna open this door, okay?” Mingi warned. He wasn’t sure how much space was behind the door and he didn’t want to hit the boy.

A soft sob escaped Woonggi’s lips and he clapped his hand over his mouth. He knew it would be better for him if he came out himself so he crawled towards the door. Even though it was dark he made sure he was visible.

Mingi opened the door and his heart broke when he saw Woonggi. “Oh, kiddo, it’s okay,” he said, sitting on the floor outside the little room, “Jisu went to get a light, he’ll be back in a minute.”

Woonggi glanced up when the door opened. He saw Mingi standing above him and immediately dissolved into tears. He was crying so hard that he didn’t register that the older man had sat down and was talking quietly to him instead of dragging him out of the room to be punished.

Mingi wasn’t going to push Woonggi. He knew they didn’t need him on deck right now, so he was going to stay right where he was until Woonggi was ready to go upstairs. 

Woonggi wasn’t sure how long he was crying before he braved looking up again. When he did, Mingi had a lantern that cast just enough light that Woonggi could see him clearly. He watched the older man uncertainly, waiting for what he would do.

“I’m sorry you got scared, kiddo,” Mingi said when he caught Woonggi looking at him.

Woonggi was confused. Mingi was sorry? But he hadn’t done anything. He looked behind Mingi but he didn’t see Jisu. He pulled his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them. Jisu’s hugs always made him feel better but this was the next best thing when the older boy wasn’t around.

“Jisu got called back upstairs to help in the galley,” Mingi said, “it’s just you and me. Do you wanna come out of there and sit with me?”

Woonggi was too scared to refuse so he slowly scooted out of the closet and over to Mingi. He stopped just out of arm's reach of the older man.

“I’m sorry you got caught up in that fight,” Mingi said, “I promise they’re not usually like that.”

Woonggi shook his head. It wasn’t Mingi’s fault. If anything it was his for running away. And now Mingi had wasted time looking for him. He buried his face in his knees and sobbed quietly. He tried to force out his own apology but he was crying too hard to form words.

Mingi reached out slowly and started to rub Woonggi’s back gently. He hoped the boy calmed down soon.

Woonggi jumped a mile when Mingi touched him but the older man’s touch stayed gentle. After a few minutes, he cautiously slid a little closer to Mingi. The touch was comforting and he really wanted to believe that he wouldn’t be hurt.

“You’re okay, Woonggi-ah, everything’s fine,” Mingi promised, “take your time, okay?”

Woonggi had never met someone who spoke so gently to him other than Jisu. He could hear the sincerity in Mingi’s voice and he really didn’t know what to do with it. Hesitantly, he scooted even closer to the older man.

Mingi wrapped his arm around Woonggi’s shoulders. He wished there was a way he could truly protect the boy from whatever harm may befall him, but this was the most he could do for now.

Woonggi leaned against Mingi and buried his face in the older man’s shoulder. He hoped now more than ever that the older man was really trustworthy.

“Do you want to go up to the galley and see Jisu?” Mingi asked once it seemed like Woonggi was calming down.

Woonggi clung onto Mingi. “T-Trouble?” he asked so quietly you could miss it. He wasn’t sure he could handle being yelled at right now.

Mingi’s eyes widened. He had never heard Woonggi speak before. “No, no, you’re not in trouble,” Mingi said, “and if anyone says you are, I’ll deal with them.”

Woonggi relaxed. He trusted that Mingi would deal with anyone who bothered him. More than anything, he was relieved that Mingi hadn’t gotten upset with him for speaking, although he wasn’t going to push that too much.

Mingi relaxed against the wall behind him. It was probably best to wait until Woonggi either wore himself out or asked to see Jisu. “So you actually can talk?” he asked gently, “you just choose not to?”

Woonggi nodded. He used to talk a lot more when he was younger but no longer. It was easier now to just stay quiet.

Mingi hummed. He knew a lot of children involved with slavers were forcibly silenced and he had really hoped Woonggi wasn’t one of them.

Woonggi was content to sit in silence. Every so often he wiped at his eyes but it didn’t seem to help. He knew, despite that, that they couldn’t hide down here forever. Taking a deep breath, he pushed himself away from Mingi and started to stand up.

“Oh, here,” Mingi said, pulling a handkerchief out of his pocket and holding it out to Woonggi, “you should blow your nose.”

Woonggi took the handkerchief gratefully. He first blew his nose and then tried to dry off his eyes. He bowed his head in thanks and held the cloth close. He was going to have to wash this for Mingi before returning it.

“You can keep that if you want,” Mingi said, “I have a ton more and I imagine you probably don’t have much to actually call your own.”

Woonggi smiled sadly and glanced down at the handkerchief clutched in his hand. He bowed his head low in thanks.

“Wanna go find Jisu now?” Mingi asked, slowly standing up so he didn’t alarm the boy with his height.

Woonggi nodded. He stayed behind Mingi as they walked back up to the deck. When they got back outside he flinched back and blinked a couple of times, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the light. He glanced around but thankfully there wasn’t anyone else around.

“I think Jisu is in the galley with Jongho,” Mingi said, spying San up in the crow’s nest.

Woonggi nodded. He started heading in the direction of the galley, still sticking close to Mingi. He was sure everyone knew he had hidden and he didn’t want to find out which members of the crew were angry with him.

“Jongho-yah, what’s cooking?” Mingi said as he walked into the galley with Woonggi close behind him.

Woonggi’s eyes widened when he saw Jisu. It was taking all of his power not to run over to his friend and cling on. “I know we don’t have a ton of meat left but I figured today’s a good day to use a little bit of it,” Jongho replied. 

“It smells good,” Mingi said, “what did the captain end up doing to Yunho?” He motioned for Woonggi to go over and see Jisu.

Woonggi quickly walked over to Jisu and snuck under his friend’s arm. It took everything in his power not to start crying again when Jisu wrapped him in a tight hug. “Let’s just say I haven’t seen the captain that angry in a _long_ time and that Yunho’s work has been divided up between you, me, _and_ San for at least a couple of days,” Jongho replied quietly.

“Yikes,” Mingi said, “he’s gonna be pissed whenever he recovers. How’s Woo?”

“If the captain lets him recover,” Jongho said offhandedly, “Woo seems okay. Definitely shaken up but I don’t think he’s hurt that bad physically, which is good.”

“I really thought Yunho had finally pulled his shit together,” Mingi said, shaking his head.

“We all did,” Jongho said sadly, “I thought that with him not butting heads with San as much that would help too but I guess not. I’m really not sure what made him snap again. Him _or_ the captain. It’s like everything’s going back to how it was. I don’t like it.”

“I don’t want to start a mutiny again, but I will if we need to,” Mingi grumbled, “this is why I hate romance. It leads to too many other problems.”

Jongho sided. “Yeah it does,” he agreed. Although he certainly wished Mingi wasn’t right. “I just really hope things don’t get worse again. Because if we all decide to leave, I have a horrible feeling that captain’s really gonna flip.”

“I get that he has this vendetta against the navy, but I’ll be honest, I signed up for this gig for consistent meals and pillaging merchants and slavers and we haven’t had either of those in months,” Mingi complained, “I just hope we find this stupid medal soon.”

“I’m sure even if we do, he’ll find a way to send us on another wild goose chase for something else to do with the navy,” Jongho said, “he’s just going to keep dragging the rest of us around as long as we’re useful to him.”

“And I’ll be honest, I really don’t want these kids here anymore,” Mingi said, lowering his voice, “I found Woonggi in the closet on the lower storage deck and it took me almost an hour to get him to come out. They’re not safe here.”

Jongho sighed sadly and glanced over at the boys. “Maybe we can convince San to take them back to a town with him,” he said quietly, “that way they’ll all be safe.”

“If the captain doesn’t get his shit together, I might just go buy a ship myself and go save all those kids,” Mingi said.

“I don’t think he’s going to,” Jongho said quietly, “but you didn’t hear it from me. Honestly I bet San would go with you. Hell so would I.”

“I think even Yeosang would at this point,” Mingi said, “he’s fuckin’ pissed.”

“What even happened? They were giving each other googly eyes while they were sparring and then all of the sudden Yeosang’s drunk in the galley,” Jongho said.

“Okay, you didn’t hear this from me,” Mingi said, leaning in so the kids couldn’t hear him, “but I share a wall with the captain so I can always hear them and if I heard correctly, he called Yeosang a different name. I assume it was his dead ex.”

Jongho sucked in a breath. “Poor Yeosang. I can’t even imagine how horrible that is,” he said quietly, “I wonder what happened. Captain seemed to be doing a lot better about him.”

“He gets himself stable then he freaks out about being stable and we always end up back here,” Mingi said.

“It’s not fair for Yeosang to have to deal with this,” Jongho dropped his voice, “it’s not fair for any of us.” He had supported Hongjoong unfailingly since he had joined the ship, but recently he was having his doubts about remaining on the ship.

“It’s really not,” Mingi said, “I honestly don’t even want to go for the fucking medal. It’s too risky, especially if they recognize Yeosang or Seonghwa.”

“What does Seonghwa think of this?” Jongho asked, “he’s the only one that can convince the captain not to go through with it.”

“Haven’t asked him,” Mingi said, “I can’t imagine he feels great about it though, but it’s not like he can tell us not to. Hongjoong’s still in charge.”

“I mean no but he’s the only one that can actually question the captain,” Jongho said, “he seems angry enough today. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him that hot headed.”

“We should talk to everyone and see where they stand,” Mingi said.

Jongho nodded. “I’ll talk to San tonight,” he said, “I’m sure he’ll want to get his brother away from the captain, especially if he’s going to be like this.”

“We should give the other three a couple of days,” Mingi said, “but we’ll talk to them too.”

Jongho nodded. “I’m sure Woo will just be happy to get away from Yunho. And I’m sure Yeosang’ll be happy to get away from the captain. Seonghwa… I’m really not sure how he feels,” he said.

“I think our biggest priority right now needs to be keeping the kids safe,” Mingi said, “I know San will protect Jisu, but I don’t trust him to keep an eye on Woonggi.”

“I don’t think Jisu would let Woonggi get left behind but it’ll be good to have an extra pair of eyes on him. Jisu seems like he’s able to hold his own but Woonggi is too timid for his own good,” Jongho said.

“I can keep an eye on Woonggi,” Mingi said, “he seems to be kind of comfortable with me.”

“Oh that’s good. Just take it kinda slow with him. And you should probably let Seonghwa and Yeosang know just so if you’re not working they don’t think you’re slacking off,” Jongho said.

“He’s just so scared all the time,” Mingi said sadly, “I feel horrible.”

“It’s not your fault he’s like this,” Jongho said, “I’m sure he’ll come around once he learns that we’re not going to hurt him. Although that’s going to be hard with the captain and Yunho stomping around.”

“The sooner we can get these kids off this boat and to proper caregivers who won’t sell them, the better,” Mingi said, “they don’t deserve this shit.”

Jongho smiled softly. “You’ve always had too much heart to be a pirate,” he said.

“No, I’ve done horrible things for Hongjoong,” Mingi said, shaking his head, “I don’t want to do that anymore.”

“You don’t have to,” Jongho promised, “we’ll be free of him soon.”

“You start by talking to San tonight and I’ll make sure the captain and Yunho stay away from the kids,” Mingi said, “Woonggi doesn’t seem like he’s been getting much sleep, so I’m going to see if he wants to sit on watch with me for a bit tonight.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Jongho said, “I’ll let you know what he says tomorrow.”

“I’m gonna leave him with you for a bit to help with dinner so I can relieve San,” Mingi said.

“I’ll keep an eye on him,” Jongho promised. It seemed like Woonggi was content to stay with Jisu and Jongho was more than happy to let the boys have their space.

Mingi headed out on deck to relieve San. Belowdecks, Yeosang and Wooyoung had long since moved to Wooyoung’s room. Yeosang had seen red when the younger man came in clutching his cheek, but he managed to keep it together for his friend’s sake.

San headed into the galley and was glad to find Jongho and his brother there. Jisu seemed preoccupied with Woonggi so he went over to bother Jongho instead.

Yeosang knew he would have to talk to Hongjoong about Yunho eventually, but he really didn’t want to. It didn’t seem like he had a choice though. The older man was dangerous. If Hongjoong didn’t throw him off at the next port, Yeosang would do it himself. With a sigh, he left Wooyoung in his bed and trudged to the captain’s quarters.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i like to call this chapter "ateez goes to pirate therapy sort of"

Hongjoong was unsurprised when there was a knock on his door. It seemed like he just wasn’t getting his alone time today. He sat up and stopped rubbing his bruised knuckles. “Come in,” he said listlessly.

Yeosang entered the room, closing the door softly behind him. “We need to talk,” he said.

Hongjoong’s eyes widened when he saw it was Yeosang. He quickly stood up from the bed and pushed his hair out of his face. “Yeah, we do,” he agreed quietly, “I don’t even know what to say. An apology doesn’t feel like enough and I know I owe you an explanation but I really have nothing.”

“No, I’m not talking to you about that,” Yeosang said coldly, “I am nowhere near mentally prepared to talk about that. I mean that we need to talk about Yunho.”

Hongjoong sighed. He had really hurt Yeosang so badly. “Ah. Yeah we do,” he said quietly, “I’m not sure what to do with him. Although I guess someone should bring him some food and clean him up.”

“He needs to go,” Yeosang said firmly, “it is too dangerous to have him on board, especially now that we have children here. Either he goes or Wooyoung and I do.”

Hongjoong took a deep breath. “Okay, I’ll make sure I talk to him. But are you two… happy here?” he asked hesitantly. He would get rid of Yunho if he had to but he wondered if Wooyoung and Yeosang would be happier if they were away from the ship.

Yeosang scoffed. “When has that ever mattered to you?” he asked.

Hongjoong didn’t have a good answer for that. “It matters now. Because if you two are happier leaving, I’ll sail you to any port in the world. If you two want to stay then I’ll talk to Yunho and dump him at the next port when he’s healed up a bit,” he said quietly.

“It didn’t matter for the years that Yunho spent habitually assaulting Wooyoung,” Yeosang said, “it didn’t matter when he and San nearly killed each other. It didn’t matter when you were hurting me. Fuck, it didn’t matter two days ago when we found the kids in the hold! So why the fuck should I believe that you care now?”

“Yeosang, do you want to stay on this ship or not?” Hongjoong asked quietly. He knew he deserved Yeosang’s anger but he didn’t want to deal with it tonight.

“I don’t know,” Yeosang said tersely, “and that doesn’t matter now. It doesn’t change the fact that all of us are in danger the longer we allow Yunho to stay on board.”

“No it doesn’t but it changes who I lose,” Hongjoong said, “Seonghwa is going to keep a close eye on Yunho. We’ll sail to the closest port and we can decide who leaves there.”

“You’re gonna lose everyone if you don’t get it together,” Yeosang said.

Hongjoong knew that but he didn’t want to hear it. “I’ll get it together,” he said quietly, “and I’ll talk to Yunho.”

“Good,” Yeosang said, “I’m going to stay with Wooyoung until Yunho is gone.”

“You can have Yunho’s room if you want. It’ll probably be best for him to stay in the infirmary for a little while. And you don’t have to treat him at all, I’ll have San keep an eye on him,” Hongjoong said quietly.

“Wooyoung doesn’t feel safe alone so it’s fine,” Yeosang said, “I’ll stay with him.”

“Okay. I’ll make sure this room stays open at all times so you can come get whatever you need,” Hongjoong said quietly.

“I’m just gonna move my stuff,” Yeosang said, “I can’t do whatever this is anymore. Not while you’re still in love with him.”

"I’m no-” Hongjoong stopped himself. He knew Yeosang wouldn’t believe him. Especially when he didn’t entirely believe himself. “I understand,” he said quietly. His chest felt like it was being squeezed. He really didn’t know how this had happened.

“You need to move on, Hongjoong,” Yeosang said softly, “this isn’t healthy and it’s going to start affecting the crew again soon.”

“It’s not going to affect the crew again,” Hongjoong said firmly, “I won’t let it. I’ll figure out whatever’s going on.” He had heard enough of this from Seonghwa, he didn’t need it from Yeosang too.

Yeosang’s face softened. “You were doing so good for a while there,” he said, “what happened?”

Hongjoong frowned. “I thought you didn’t want to talk about this tonight,” he said uncertainly. He took a step back from Yeosang. He didn’t think the younger man would turn around and push so soon.

“I also...don’t want to ignore it, y’know?” Yeosang said, “as much as it hurt me, I can’t imagine it’s not fucking you up too.”

Hongjoong sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “I just don’t know how to apologize,” he said quietly, “I’ve been denying it for a long time but part of me is always going to want him back. I want what I had with him back. And our relationship has been so different from what I had with him until last night. We’ve just never been that slow and gentle with each other and I think I just snapped back to him. And I know, I swear I know, this isn’t fair to you but I’ve been too selfish to let you go be happy.”

“The only thing different about last night was that there was no power struggle,” Yeosang said, “I gave into you, there was no pushing of any limits. And I’d love to be like that all the time with you, but I don’t know that I can trust you to see me for me if we are.”

Hongjoong stared at the floor. “I don’t trust me either,” he said quietly, “I would love that more than anything but I just don’t know. I just hate that this hurt you so much. I’ve been trying so hard to treat you how you deserve and it wasn’t enough. I’ve been trying so hard to be different and it didn’t work.”

“You keep inhibiting yourself,” Yeosang said, “you keep forcing yourself into these roles and these personas just because you’re the captain. No one’s going to doubt your authority if you’re nice to them, Joong. If you had just opened yourself up and relaxed from the beginning, I don’t know that this would have happened.”

“It’s not a persona,” Hongjoong said evenly, “if I don’t have a strong hand with these kids, they won’t listen. Look at San. Look at Yunho! I’m sure San’s brother has an attitude like he does too and even Seonghwa I have to be firmer with. This was bound to happen no matter what I did. He’s never going to go away no matter what I do. He’s always going to be there as a constant reminder of my mistakes. And you’re always going to be here too.”

“If you sat down down and talked with San and Yunho and Seonghwa, you might be able to  _ fix _ their issues instead of sweeping them under the rug,” Yeosang said, “and I really doubt that Jisu’s anything like San. They barely grew up together and San didn’t have an attitude until he started working for you anyway.”

“I’m not sweeping their issues under the rug. San’s has been solved, Yunho’s been a lost cause long before me, and Seonghwa and I have our pact to fix his issues,” Hongjoong listed, “we’ll just have to see how the kid is once he adjusts a little more. I’m not worried about the little one. He’s the best listener on this ship.”

“Sure, San’s has been solved now, but it could have been solved three years ago if you had extended an olive branch,” Yeosang said, starting to get frustrated, “you always do this. The moment things get emotional, you get tough again.”

“Yes I do and that’s not going to change. I’m sorry I don’t know what to tell you,” Hongjoong said calmly. Him having emotions was what had led him to getting hurt. And he was going to do everything in his power to prevent that from happening again.

“Being emotional isn’t a bad thing,” Yeosang said, “and until you open up and face it all head on, you’re never gonna get over him and you’re never gonna be able to move on.”

“I’m not going to be able to move on no matter what I do,” Hongjoong said, “but I don’t deserve to move on. I’m the reason he’s dead in case you forgot. I can’t just move on from that like nothing happened. He deserves better than that.”

“I’m the one that couldn’t save him, Hongjoong,” Yeosang said bluntly, “I’m the one that let him die. Not you. I’m the one that  _ listened _ to him die. Not you. You had no hand in his death, Hongjoong, none at all.”

Hongjoong flinched back. “He left because of me,” he said quietly, “he joined the navy in the first place because I was a selfish brat who wanted more. I let him sacrifice himself for me because I couldn’t wait a few extra years to get what I wanted.”

“That’s not what he signed up for,” Yeosang said, “that’s not what his decision was. No one signed up for what happened that night. You can’t keep blaming yourself for a freak accident that had nothing to do with you!”

“I’m not having this conversation with you,” Hongjoong said, trying his best to stay calm, “he’s gone and I’m never getting him back and I’m never going to get over him. I’m sorry you wasted so much time on me.”

“It wouldn’t have been a waste of time if you just let yourself have feelings once in a while,” Yeosang said crossly.

Hongjoong took a deep breath and closed his eyes. “Me having feelings is what landed us all here. And I’m sure most, if not all of the members of this crew, would much rather be back how their lives were before all of this,” he said, “I’m not letting myself be weak again. I’m sorry but I wouldn’t survive it when something else happens.”

“Having emotions isn’t weak,” Yeosang said firmly, “pretending you’re invincible is what makes you weak and I’m really sorry that you can’t see that.”

“I’m not invincible and I’ve never claimed to be,” Hongjoong said, “the only times I have gotten hurt in my life were the times I let myself be vulnerable. The only times I have hurt other people were also when I have been vulnerable. It’s simply not worth it.”

Yeosang just shook his head. “That sounds like a very sad and lonely way to live,” he said quietly.

Hongjoong scoffed. “Not everyone gets to have a happy fairytale life,” he said, “and not everyone deserves to have a life like that. It’s only as bad as you make it and it doesn’t bother me because I don’t dwell on it.”

“You think any of us are living fairytale lives?” Yeosang asked, “name one person on your crew that’s had  _ anything _ good happen to them.”

“I don’t know what anyone’s life like was before me,” Hongjoong said quietly, “but no, I know none of you are. And none of you will if you stay on this ship.”

“You are _not_ the only one who has been through shit,” Yeosang said, “you’re not the only one with trauma. And I bet if you sat down with everyone and you all just talked your shit out, there would be a  _ lot _ fewer problems.”

“You’re right but how can I ask my crew to talk about what’s going on when I’m not willing to do that?” Hongjoong asked.

“You  _ have  _ to be willing to do that,” Yeosang said, “get drunk if you need to, but you just have to do it. You’re gonna lose your crew if you don’t.”

“If I get drunk again, Seonghwa will kill me,” Hongjoong said, “and I’m not trying to be dramatic because normally he doesn’t scare me but I pushed him to the edge today and if I break our pact again it’s over. And trust me you don’t want to deal with Seonghwa when he’s past his breaking point.”

“I know,” Yeosang said, “but so many of them don’t trust you right now. They need to see that you’re just as human as they are, instead of the monster you like to pretend to be.”

“I am a monster, Yeosang,” Hongjoong said, “you’ve seen me at my best and you’ve seen me as close to my worst as it will get here. There’s not much humanity left. It’s not suitable for the pirate life.”

“Look around you,” Yeosang said, “no one on this ship is a pirate. These are just kids that have been hurt and want to hurt someone back.”

Hongjoong sighed. “So we're back to the question I asked you a year ago,” he said, “do I let them all go home?”

“Talk to them, not me,” Yeosang said, “talk to them, share with them, hurt with them. Then you’ll know.”

“Fine. I’ll talk them,” Hongjoong said. At least that way he would get a better understanding of what everyone wanted to do moving forward.

“Why don’t we have everyone hang out on deck tonight once it’s dark?” Yeosang suggested, “that’s always the best time for sharing secrets.”

“I need to talk to Seonghwa first. He’s not going to agree right now,” Hongjoong said, “when he’s ready, we can do it but neither of the kids will be there. The goings on of this ship are none of their business.”

“I’m sure they won’t mind, but good luck getting San to let them out of his sight,” Yeosang said. 

“He’s barely been with the little one and he was away from his brother for quite a bit today,” Hongjoong said, “he’ll be fine.”

“I mean, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad for them to be there,” Yeosang said, “it might help them see us less as enemies.”

“Fine, the kids can come. You know what, why don’t you run this whole thing because you seem to know exactly how you want it to go,” Hongjoong said evenly.

“Hongjoong,” Yeosang said tiredly, “if you aren’t committed to it, then don’t do it. I’m just trying to help.”

“Right and I’m telling you what I want so that I actually do participate and you’re going against me. This is why I’m tough because I’m trying to be nice and you’re not listening to me,” Hongjoong said.

“I just don’t want you to make excuses to chicken out. But fine, no kids,” Yeosang said, “I’ll make sure they get sent to bed.”

“Thank you. And if San has a problem with it, he can stay with them,” Hongjoong said, “and what about Yunho? I’m sure if he’s there, Wooyoung won’t be.”

“Maybe they can work their shit out productively if they have to do it in front of everyone,” Yeosang said, “I’ll make sure Woo is there. Yunho is up to you.”

“He can come if he can make it up the stairs. Which is doubtful. I’ll have Seonghwa ask him,” Hongjoong said.

“Then it’s settled,” Yeosang said, “we’ll figure everything out tonight. Seonghwa permitting, of course.”

“Yeah, sounds good,” Hongjoong said, even though it didn’t. He really didn’t know what to expect but he was sure it wasn’t going to end well.

Yeosang just nodded awkwardly before finally leaving the captain’s room. He went around to the others, explaining that they were meeting on the deck after dark, before finally going back to Wooyoung. When dark fell and dinner had been eaten, the crew gathered on deck, sitting in a sloppy circle on the ground with a single lantern in the middle.

Hongjoong was surprised that Yunho had joined them. He noticed how the younger man sat a bit away from everyone else and had his eyes glued to the deck.

Yeosang kept an arm around Wooyoung when Yunho appeared. The older man certainly looked much worse for the wear. Hongjoong had really done a number on him. He glanced around. “Captain?” he said, “what’s this about?”

“This is to try to fix everything,” Hongjoong, “which I know isn’t going to happen in one night. But this is only going to work for people who want to stay on this ship. Anyone who is planning on leaving at the next port or soon after doesn’t have to do this.” Jongho glanced nervously at Mingi.

Yeosang was surprised when no one moved. He was sure there had to be at least one dissenter.

Hongjoong wasn’t surprised. He was sure no one wanted to make him angry. “So since the original intention was to share our stories and I’m sure many of you are uncomfortable doing that, I think this would be much more productive if we share our gripes with one another instead. However the person who is being talked about cannot respond. If anyone gets angry or yells, I will personally remove you,” Hongjoong said.

Yeosang frowned. That wasn’t the original deal. He wasn’t sure that this would fix anything anymore.

“Yeosang, since you were the one that proposed this idea why don’t you go first,” Hongjoong said. He sat back on his hands and waited. If Yeosang did most of the talking about him, then he wouldn’t have to say anything at all.

Yeosang sighed but didn’t fight it. Instead, he decided to just blunt about it. “You called me your dead ex last night.”

“Yes,” Hongjoong acknowledged, taking note of how none of his crew looked shocked, “and we just talked about this. That is actually why you wanted to do this in the first place.”

“No it’s not,” Yeosang said, “this wasn’t the original plan. You’re still finding excuses to get out of being open and emotional with your crew. The point isn’t to let everyone air their grievances at you while you sit here and say nothing.”

“I don’t know what more to say,” Hongjoong said, “I told you all what happened last year when we went through this. We’ve all experienced loss. I know you all understand relatively how I am feeling and how I’m probably going to feel for the rest of my life.”

“No, Hongjoong, you’re making excuses again,” Yeosang said, “if you’re not going to actually share your shit and open up like you promised you would, then I’m leaving.”

“No, don’t leave,” Hongjoong said hurriedly, “I’m sorry, it’s just that my story isn’t as dramatic or exciting as the rumors will lead you to believe. I lost the love of my life and even all these years later I’m still not over him. And I don’t think I’m ever going to get over him. I know this impacts all of you because the mission of this ship is my revenge but it’s not going to go any further than that.” It was weird saying all of this to his crew. He doubted they would truly care and he was sure most of them would rather be getting some much needed sleep.

Yeosang didn’t know how to respond to that, so he didn’t. Oddly enough, it was Wooyoung that spoke up. “I lost the love of my life too,” he said quietly.

Yunho looked up when Wooyoung spoke. It was hard to see through the darkness but he could just make out the sad expression on the younger man’s face.

“He hurt me so much,” Wooyoung continued, “and somehow I still loved him, but he just wouldn’t stop.”

“But you wouldn’t li-,” Yunho began before he was cut off. “Yunho,” Hongjoong said sharply, “let Wooyoung finish talking and actually pay attention to what he’s saying.”

Wooyoung swallowed thickly. “I never wanted to be here,” he said softly, “and he knew that. I was more than content to be on land and wait for the few times he would come home in a year. I missed him, obviously, but I knew he was happy on the sea and that I wouldn’t have been. I grew up sailing and there’s just a certain...trappedness to it that I’ve never liked.”

“I’m sorry, Wooyoung,” Hongjoong said quietly, “but now you have the freedom to go home. Is that something you would want?” Yunho opened his mouth to protest but quickly closed it when he met his captain’s gaze.

“I don’t know,” Wooyoung said, “this is practically my family. As much as I don’t want to be around someone who hurt me, I also don’t want to be alone.”

“You wouldn’t have to be alone,” Hongjoong said, “and you’re not going to be around the person who hurt you for much longer. I promise.” “Captain…” Yunho began uncertainly. “That is a conversation for you and I to have privately after this is over,” Hongjoong said.

“That’s the stupidest fucking part though,” Wooyoung said, frustrated, “I still love him. Even after all the horrible things he’s done to me, I can’t just...let go of him.”

“You’re holding onto the good things. You’re holding onto when you were happy,,” Hongjoong said sadly, “because it’s easier to survive when you have some happiness, even if it’s borrowed from the past.”

“I’ve given him so many second chances, more than he’s ever deserved,” Wooyoung said, “and every time he proves to me that he’s no longer the person I fell in love with, but I can’t bring myself to let go. The pain won’t have been worth it if I just leave.”

“But I haven’t changed!” Yunho protested. “You have changed, Yunho,” Hongjoong said, “you used to have the stars in your eyes when you looked at Wooyoung. You wouldn’t let a fly so much as fly by him let alone let any of us even get close to him. But then you saw how I treated all of you. How everyone would listen to me because I had a heavy hand. And you started using that heavy hand with Wooyoung and it worked. And so you continued to use it under the guise of love and protection. If you love someone, really truly love them, you will never hurt them. The moment you hurt someone, it’s no longer love.”

“I understand you wanting me here,” Wooyoung said, “and I could have learned to love it for you, but that stopped the moment you first hurt me. You kept me locked in the brig in chains! How is that love?”

“You wanted to leave. I-I couldn’t lose you, Wooyoungie. I never meant to hurt you but I just got so scared,” Yunho admitted shakily, “I wanted you by my side forever and I didn’t know how else to convince you to stay.”

“You wouldn’t have lost me,” Wooyoung said, “I still would have been yours, on the ship or off of it. But instead you forced me away. How is that better, Yunho?”

“I didn’t want to force you away,” Yunho said desperately, “I-I didn’t realize I was hurting you so much. Every time you pulled away more I got scared and I would pull you back. I just…I didn’t care how I got you to stay, just that I did. I didn’t realize how much I was hurting you and how much our relationship changed because of me. I just wanted to be happy with you.”

“How could you not have known?” Wooyoung asked, “you were hurting me on purpose! You beat me and forced me to do things with you that I didn’t want to do. Every time I said no or asked you to stop, you would only get more angry and more violent. You used to be a person that would cry when you had to kill a spider, Yunho.”

“You never used to say no to me,” Yunho said, “we used to do everything together and then all of the sudden we got here and you refused to do anything. How was I supposed to feel? I was upset that you were pulling away from me so much without even letting me try to fix anything.”

“Because I was unhappy! You knew I never wanted to be on a ship with you but you forced me to come with you anyway. I was lonely and upset and you never even tried to listen to me. It was always just about what you wanted, Yunho, it never got to be about me,” Wooyoung said.

“You didn’t talk to me! And you know we both would have been miserable if we were separated,” Yunho said, “and…and I would have lost you. I brought you with me because I knew. I knew the moment I left someone would come around and sweep you off your feet and I knew I’d never meet anyone else out here. I couldn’t lose you to someone else. We were so happy and I couldn’t lose that.”

“You couldn’t just trust me?” Wooyoung asked sadly.

“I couldn’t trust me,” Yunho said, “I knew I wouldn’t be enough just on my own. I know there’s better for you out there and I know I should have left you home to be happy but I just wanted one thing in my life that made me happy. I lost everything! I had nothing and I couldn’t risk losing you too.”

“No, you didn’t trust me,” Wooyoung said, “you thought I would leave you at the first possible chance if you didn’t keep me locked up here with you. I had so much faith in you to go on these adventures and still come home to me and you couldn’t trust me to wait for you.”

“No! Someone else would have taken you! Someone would have stolen you from me just like they stole the rest of my family. Wooyoung, you know I couldn’t risk that,” Yunho said desperately, “I love you. I couldn’t just leave you behind like that. If you were out of my sight it would have been so much easier for them to take you away.”

“No one would have stolen me,” Wooyoung said, shaking his head, “even if they tried, I knew how to defend myself. I did it for a long time before you came along.”

Tears pricked the corner of Yunho’s eyes. “But we couldn’t have been sure! I couldn’t have been sure you were safe unless you were with me. I know you know how to defend yourself, but Wooyoung, you know why I was so scared. And I know what happened doesn’t excuse what I’ve done to you here but you know why I had to bring you with me. They would have hurt you too, I know they would have,” he said shakily. 

“Yunho…” Wooyoung said slowly, “I get it, I do, but that still doesn’t excuse what you did to me. You could have asked, you could have listened, you could have helped make things easier for me. All you did was make me afraid of you.”

“I’m sorry!” Yunho choked out, burying his face in his knees, “I’m sorry. I didn’t want to hurt you. I didn’t want to make you so miserable. I just wanted to protect you.” “Yunho,” Hongjoong said carefully, “what happened?”

Yeosang was intrigued by the sad look in Wooyoung’s eyes. He couldn’t believe that, after everything, the younger man still sympathized with Yunho.

“I used to work for a couple of men in my town,” Yunho began, face still hidden, “they didn’t pay me much for the work that I did but it was just enough to help my parents. My mom was home with my siblings so just my dad worked and he couldn’t make ends meet on his own. We never went that far from my own house but there weren’t many others around. One day they took me to the other side of town. I should have known something was wrong but if I tried to protest I would have lost the job. They kept me out longer than usual and made me walk all the way home instead of giving me a ride. I knew something was up so I tried to get home as fast as I could but I was too late...” He took a deep breath and cleared his throat. “My house was b-burned to the ground and my family was g-gone.” He barely made it through his sentence with the lump that had formed in his throat.

“The town where we grew up harbors a lot of highwaymen and mob types,” Wooyoung explained, “they would attack and kill people all the time over the tiniest of issues.”

“My parents were good people,” Yunho forced out, “none of my family deserved what happened. None of them!” Jongho hesitated for a moment before scooting over and tentatively laying a hand on Yunho’s shoulder.

“I know,” Wooyoung said quietly. He didn’t have anything else to say to Yunho.

Hongjoong glanced at Yeosang. Like hell he was throwing Yunho back to the wolves. The boy had nothing and he wasn’t going to be the one that separated him from his second family. “I’m sorry, Yunho,” he offered gently, “it’s very hard to lose your family like that.”

“You understand that you almost lost me on your own, right?” Wooyoung asked, “you almost killed me last year.”

“I don’t even remember most of what happened,” Yunho said quietly, “I just remember being scared and angry and not knowing what else to do. I-I thought it would fix the problem. It was what fixed all the other problems on board.” Hongjoong dropped his eyes to the deck.

“I was sick,” Wooyoung said, “I had an infection and a fever and I told you to give me space and hid from you because I was scared and you nearly killed me.”

“I almost lost you, Wooyoung. I was scared!” Yunho said, picking up his head. He shakily raised an arm to point at San. “He almost took you from me! I was scared and I was angry you wouldn’t let me protect you. I know what I did was wrong. I know how I’ve treated you since we came here was wrong but what else do I do? I can apologize all you want but I know it won’t change anything. I don’t know what else you want from me other than me leaving.”

“It wouldn’t have gotten that bad if you hadn’t beat me half to death in the middle of it!” Wooyoung said, “San choosing to hurt me was  _ not _ my fault. You need to actually fix your behavior and be better to me before I’ll give you a chance again.”

Yunho had to take a second to make sure he heard Wooyoung right. “Y-You’re giving me another chance?” he asked quietly, “why? You said you hated me, Wooyoung. Aren’t you happy that I’m leaving you alone now?”

“No, I’m not giving you another chance,” Wooyoung said, “I’m telling you what you need to do before I’ll consider giving you another chance. You’ve been asking me for months what else you need to do, so there’s your answer.”

Yunho’s shoulders slumped. “Wooyoung…” he began before stopping himself, “okay.” It was too late now. He wasn’t stupid enough to get his hopes up again. He had given up and knew that it was time to move on. Especially since the captain had already said that he wouldn’t be around Wooyoung much longer. 

Yeosang glanced between Wooyoung and Yunho. He really hoped that this conversation had gotten through to Yunho.

Yunho shakily pushed himself away from Jongho so he could lean against a crate. He looked around at the rest of his crew with sad eyes. He didn’t want this to just be about him.


	9. Chapter 9

“This was supposed to be about opening up and trusting each other and it was my idea so I might as well go next,” Yeosang said quietly, “the reason the captain and I have so many hang ups about his ex is because I look like him. Like, almost identical. I can’t count the amount of times other officers on the ship would think they outranked me because they thought I was him. But even more than that...I was there when his ex died.”

“It wasn’t Yeosang’s fault that he died,” Hongjoong clarified, “if I’m being honest, it wasn’t anyone’s. It was a freak accident that no one could have predicted.”

Yeosang shook his head. “It was though,” he said quietly, “he was my patient. If I had been a good doctor, I wouldn’t have even left the ship and no one would have died in the first place. If I hadn’t gone back first, I don’t know what would have happened. I was able to get in and get some of the patients out, but there were a few in a quarantine room, including Kenta. When I tried to get to them, one of the walls in the hallway collapsed and trapped me under it.” He took a shaking breath, wiping at his eyes discreetly. “I laid there and listened to him stop screaming.”

Hongjoong’s hand tightened into a fist. It didn’t get any easier. Yeosang could tell him what happened again and again and it would crush him every time. His Kenta had suffered. His Kenta had suffered so much when he didn’t deserve it. 

“That wasn’t your fault,” Seonghwa said, “you did everything you could. We all did. We only lost four men that night instead of the twenty five that were stuck in the infirmary. That’s a good thing. You barely made it out alive yourself.”

Hongjoong took slow, calculated breaths. He had been willing to try opening himself up to his crew, but he wasn’t going to cry in front of them. Even after all these years, it still felt like it was yesterday when he had learned that his Kenta was never coming home.

“We shouldn’t have lost any,” Yeosang said, shaking his head, “I’ll never forgive myself for what happened that night.”

“But you did,” Hongjoong said quietly, “and there’s nothing any of us can do about it. All we can do is live with it.”

“Yes, captain, thank you for that reminder, that was very helpful,” Yeosang said, monotone.

Hongjoong exhaled shakily. “Yeosang,” he said warningly, “don’t push it. There’s a lot of people who feel guilty for what happened.”

“Those people don’t hear the screams of men being burned alive every time they close their eyes,” Yeosang bit out, before taking a deep breath, “I was honorably discharged because of the injuries I received that night.”

Hongjoong bit his lip harshly. He hoped that this was helping Yeosang and Seonghwa to talk about what happened. Because all he could think about was the day that he had said goodbye to Kenta. He hadn’t realized it was going to be forever.

“The recovery efforts were horrible,” Seonghwa said sadly, “we found them, but not much of them. I know they didn’t send you much, captain, but that’s because they didn’t have much to send.”

“I didn’t get anything,” Hongjoong said quietly, “they gave everything they had to his family. I was no one to them. I was at best a close friend.”

“And that’s why we were going to the navy, to take his medal of honor,” Yeosang said, “they sent his family his tags and other regalia, but they kept his medal displayed on one of the ships.”

“I have nothing to remember him by except the fading memories,” Hongjoong said quietly, “they don’t deserve to keep his medal. I don’t care how good he was to them.”

“I promised you we would get it back and we will,” Yeosang said, “even if it’s just the two of us.”

“We won’t survive if it’s just the two of us,” Hongjoong said, “they don’t take kindly to deserters. And I can’t hold my own against them with my eye.” 

“You’ll have me too, captain,” Seonghwa said, “I’m not going anywhere.”

Hongjoong looked up at Seonghwa, slightly shocked. He hadn’t expected his first mate to say something like that, especially after their conversation earlier.

“Me too,” Mingi said bravely, “if things are going to be better now, then I’m with you too.”

Jongho looked at Mingi uncertainly and then over at San. “I’m with you too, but on the condition that my brother and Woonggi never have to go through what we did,” San said. “You have my word,” Hongjoong promised. “I’m with you too,” Jongho said quietly. He scooted back over next to San.

“We should start branding ourselves as vigilantes instead of pirates,” Mingi said quietly, “I think it’s more fitting.”

Hongjoong mustered a small smile. “Sure. We can be a group of vigilantes,” he said.

The taller man took a deep breath. “If we’re gonna be vigilantes...can we go after the traffickers when we’re done with the navy?”

Hongjoong nodded. “We aren’t going to run an adoption center though,” he warned, “I’ll help you go against traffickers but we can’t keep bringing children on board.”

“I know,” Mingi said, “a-and I may end up leaving at some point to pursue it on my own, but that’s not an issue for now.”

“I understand. When you’re ready to do that, come talk to me and I’ll make sure you’re all set up with everything you might need,” Hongjoong said, “I know a pretty good crew.”

“I just can’t keep living knowing that there are still kids going through that,” Mingi said, “especially after spending time around Woonggi.”

Hongjoong smiled. “You’re a good kid, Mingi,” he said, “the world needs more people like you.”

“He’s just so scared all the time,” Mingi said sadly, “it’s the worst feeling in the world, being that scared.”

Hongjoong studied Mingi for a moment. “You seem to know a lot about these traffickers and what Woonggi went through with them,” he prompted gently.

“I do,” Mingi admitted, “I had just escaped them when you found me.”

Hongjoong’s eyes widened. “I hadn’t realized,” he said quietly, “I’m glad you were able to escape and I’m sure Woonggi trusts you a lot since you’ve been through it too.”

“A bit,” Mingi said, “he’s starting to realize that I won’t hurt him, but there’s still a long way to go until he trusts me. I had to show him my tattoo to even get him to believe me.”

“That’s what your tattoo is from?” Hongjoong asked, “if you want to take some extra time to spend with him, I think that would be good for both of you. If the chores have to slip a little, it’ll be okay.”

“You thought I tattooed a line on my arm for fun?” Mingi asked, brow furrowing.

“No, no, no,” Hongjoong said hurriedly, “I knew it was from something but I didn’t realize that this was the tracking system traffickers used. And I had never thought to ask. I figured you would have told me if it was important for me to know.”

“They’re not always in the same spot, so they don’t look patterned,” Mingi said, “mine’s on my bicep, Woonggi’s is on his ribcage, and I assume Jisu’s is somewhere else altogether.”

Hongjoong hummed. “We’ll have to start looking for them if we pick anyone else up,” he said. 

“It’s terrifying,” Mingi said quietly, “I can’t even begin to imagine what these poor kids have been through.”

“Jisu can’t sleep at night,” San said quietly, “I’ll hear him wake up and I end up going to stay with him so he and Woonggi can sleep. They would get beat for the littlest things. That’s why Woonggi’s so scared of everything. He was practically raised by them so it’s all he knows.”

“He can talk, but he doesn’t,” Mingi said quietly, “they probably beat it out of him.”

Hongjoong shook his head. “We’ll all have to make sure we’re kind to and around him so that he knows he doesn’t have to be afraid of us,” he said, “I’m sure he’ll still be skeptical of most of us for a while but if he can at least trust you, Mingi, I think that would be good for him.”

“What happened this morning scared the shit out of him,” Mingi said, shaking his head, “I found him on the lowest storage deck and it took me an hour just to get him out of hiding.”

“Give him some time to chill out where he feels safe,” Hongjoong said, “don’t push him to come out but if he does go to the deck let him help out. Wooyoung, it might be beneficial for him to get to know you better too.”

“He might be even more anxious if we force him not to work,” Mingi said, “I remember when I first left and you first brought me on board, I was looking for any and every chance to do work because idle hands would get me beat. He does seem to really like doing the braiding though and it’s not like we’ll ever not need more rope, so we can just have him sit and do that. Especially since his arm’s still hurt, right?” Yeosang nodded.

“Set him up doing that then. It doesn’t even have to be on the deck but you know where he’s most comfortable,” Hongjoong said. “He’s quiet about it but at night you can tell his arm still bothers him by the way he sleeps,” San said, “but I’m more worried about Jisu’s side. Some of the stitches got pulled the other day and he wouldn’t let me fix them. I’m scared it’s going to get infected.”

“I’ll make sure I take a look at him tomorrow,” Yeosang said, “if they pulled already, then he probably shouldn’t be doing any heavy work on deck until they’re better.”

“Will he actually listen to that?” Hongjoong asked. “I’ll make sure he does,” San said, “I have some stuff he can do that won’t pull on his stitches.”

“He can probably still do simple stuff like helping in the kitchen or mending clothes and sheets, but nothing too strenuous,” Yeosang said. “These are our kids now,” Seonghwa said firmly, voice daring anyone to disagree with him, “we’ll keep them safe and get them healthy.”

Hongjoong cracked a small smile at Seonghwa’s parental instincts. “We’ll take care of them,” he agreed.

“San,” Mingi said, a little hesitantly, “do you mind me asking how you...lost Jisu in the first place?”

San scoffed. “My crackhead father sold him off,” he said angrily, “my parents have been split for as long as I can remember. We spent most of the time with my mom but once a month we’d spend a weekend with my dad. Neither of us liked going though. He’s a deadbeat who should have never had kids. A couple of times he had tried just having one of us go down at a time, which my mother didn’t like, but she wanted him to be kinda involved in our lives. And one night after Jisu got back from a weekend with him, he went to bed and the next morning, he was gone. He told my mom that he didn’t know where he went and that he probably ran away but Jisu would have never done that. Eventually we found out that he sold him for drug money and I thought I was never going to see him again. He was my best friend and my mom’s pride and joy.”

“That’s horrible,” Seonghwa said, “I can’t imagine doing that to my own child. And one so young at that. You said he was only thirteen when he disappeared, right?”

“Barely,” San said, “my dad claimed that he wanted to see Jisu for his birthday but thankfully my mom made him wait a few weeks because she wanted him to be with us. I wish she had just told him to fuck off from the beginning and never let him in our lives. He left before Jisu was even born and only made a half assed attempt to get to know us as we grew up.”

“It’s disgusting,” Yeosang said, shaking his head, “I don’t even think Woonggi’s that old now. I don’t want to think about how young he was when they took him.”

“Jisu’s not sure when his birthday is but he knows that he’s twelve or so,” San said, “and he’s been with them for a long time. He was already there when Jisu got there.”

“Jisu’s seventeen, right? So that would have made Woonggi eight when he got there and even younger when he was taken,” Yeosang said, “that’s horrifying.” “There are kids there that are even younger than that,” Mingi said quietly, “I think the youngest I knew about was four years old.”

“It’s horrible. Even just being on that island for a few hours,” San said, “those men are disgusting excuses for human beings and so are the people that supply them kids. I don’t think all that many are truly stolen, which is why not as many people go hunting for them.”

“The navy has always turned a blind eye to what the traffickers do,” Seonghwa said, “I wouldn’t be surprised if they partake in all of it.”

San’s face twisted into a scowl. “Everyone turns a blind eye,” he said, “it’s not fair to those kids. Jisu has no understanding that people can actually care about him anymore. Even with everything my mom and I did for him, he’s still not convinced we actually love him and want him around. Those kids are completely ruined.”

“Hey, don’t say that,” Mingi said, “it’s not unrecoverable, but trauma takes time.”

“I just hate what he did to Jisu,” San said, “he tried to get me to do drugs with him and I’m sure if I agreed he would have probably sold me out at night to people looking for a quick fix. He was just such a horrible person and I wish my mom kept us away from him. He didn’t do anything to help her and he hated us. I overheard them arguing one day before Jisu was born. He wanted her to get rid of him but she refused and he beat her for it.”

“My parents were into drugs too,” Seonghwa said, “both of them. That’s why I joined the navy, to get out of the house.”

“It’s horrible,” San said quietly, “it’s like you don’t even matter to them. It’s like nothing else matters.”

“It is,” Seonghwa agreed, “I ran away to join the navy when I was fourteen. They wouldn’t even train me for the first few years I was there, they just had me as a port boy running errands.”

“That young? I’m sorry, that’s horrible,” San said sincerely, “but I’m glad you were able to get away from them.”

“It was better,” Seonghwa said honestly, “the navy is horrible but anything was better than that. I haven’t seen them since. I don’t even know if they’re alive. Honestly, I kind of hope they aren’t.”

San frowned and dropped his eyes. He didn’t need to look up to know the person who wrapped themselves around his arm was Jongho. He wondered if his mother was still alive. He didn’t even know if she would be happy to see him if she was and he went back. He had snuck out of the house to find Jisu so soon after he was taken. He couldn’t imagine what losing both sons so suddenly did to her.

Yeosang didn’t miss the expression on San’s face. “You haven’t seen your mother since you left to look for Jisu, have you?”

“No,” San said quietly, “and I didn’t even get to say goodbye. I told her I wanted to look for Jisu and she begged me not to go. I knew I had to look for him though so I snuck out in the middle of the night after I promised I’d stay. The last thing I ever said to her was a lie. I can’t imagine how much I hurt her after everything she sacrificed for me.” He turned and buried his face in Jongho’s neck.

“We’re still close enough to your home,” Seonghwa said, turning to look at the captain.

“Jisu doesn’t want to go back,” San said shakily, “I can’t do that to him. And I can’t go alone.” “We can still take you, San,” Hongjoong said, “and I’m sure Jongho would be willing to go find your mom with you if Jisu doesn’t want to.”

“You can always bring her to him, instead of bringing him to her,” Yeosang said, “we should stop and stock up before we go for the navy anyway. We can dock there for a few days and you guys can handle your business.”

San wanted to do it so bad but he was terrified. “What if she’s not there?” he asked in a small voice, “what if she’s dead?” He didn’t know if he would be able to handle that.

“We’ll help you through it,” Yeosang said simply, “we owe you that much.”

“Thank you,” San said quietly. He was grateful when Jongho wrapped a tight arm around his shoulders. Hongjoong was shocked. He had never seen this side of San. He honestly didn’t think San even had a vulnerable side.

“I’m glad we did this,” Yeosang said quietly, “I think it helps to know what everyone is coming from and what motivates them.”

“I am too,” Hongjoong admitted. He looked over and saw how uncomfortable Jongho looked. “You don’t have to talk if you don’t want to,” he said. “It’s not that, it’s just…my story doesn’t compare,” Jongho said quietly, “I didn’t have it as bad as any of you.”

“That doesn’t matter,” Yeosang said, “all of our stories are different; that doesn’t make yours any lesser.”

“But I never knew my parents so I never went through the pain of losing them. I had nothing so when the captain picked me up, it wasn’t like I had anything to leave behind. I was saved. This ship is more home to me than where I’m from,” Jongho said.

“That’s important too though,” Mingi said, “I have to imagine there’s a certain feeling of loss when you see other families but don’t have your own.”

Jongho nodded. “The hardest part was seeing all the kids play together and not being able to join them,” he said quietly, “I tried to make friends but no one let their kids play with a street rat.”

“I grew up on a ship,” Yeosang offered, “so I never had anyone to play with either. It was just work all the time. I know it’s not quite the same, but…” He trailed off.

“You reminded me so much of myself,” Hongjoong added softly, “I wanted to give you the chances I never got. I wanted you to know that you weren’t alone. I learned on day one that street kids need to stick together and I’m glad that I found you and that you’ve become as well rounded as you have. And I’m especially glad that you found someone who makes you so happy because it’s what you deserve.”

Yeosang smiled to himself. He was glad that this had gone the way it had. “We’re not gonna forget all of this in the morning,” he said softly, “hopefully you all have a bit more trust in each other now.”

“I’m still going to take care of all of you. And I’m still going to run this ship to the best of my ability. I’m grateful for all of you sticking by my side through everything and I’m especially grateful for you, Seonghwa,” Hongjoong said, turning to his first mate, “you’ve seen me at my worst out of everyone here and yet you’ve stayed. You’ve had countless chances to overthrow me and make the ship a better place and you didn’t. Thank you for protecting these boys when I couldn’t.”

“You’re the best possible leader this ship could have,” Seonghwa said, shaking his head, “you just need to have more faith in your own abilities.”

“There’s always room for improvement,” Hongjoong said, “but I think we’ve been through a lot tonight. Let’s go get some sleep and we can get a later start tomorrow.”

The crew slowly stood up one by one, returning to their rooms. Jongho disappeared with San, while Mingi insisted on going to check on the kids. Seonghwa helped Yunho hobble back below deck to his room, with Wooyoung not far behind, claiming he wanted to be alone to think. Soon, it was just Yeosang and Hongjoong left.

“Thank you for convincing me to do this,” Hongjoong said quietly, “I’m glad everyone got the chance to open up.”

“It honestly worked a lot better than I thought it would,” Yeosang said, “I thought for sure there would be resistance, but I guess everyone needed a moment to vent. I’m glad you went through with it.”

“All of the kids have been much better about sharing than me. They just never did because I was so resistant to it,” Hongjoong said, “I’m sure they all feel a lot better now. And hopefully Yunho will start treating Wooyoung properly again.”

“I hope so,” Yeosang said, “Wooyoung asked to be left alone. I think he has a lot to think about after tonight. Hopefully Yunho does too.” He didn’t really want to spend the night alone but he was hesitant to ask to spend it with Hongjoong.

“I hope so too,” Hongjoong said, “will you be comfortable in Yunho’s room for the night? Or would you prefer mine and I can stay in his room?”

“I think Yunho’s in his own room,” Yeosang said slowly, “I doubt that Seonghwa brought him all the way down to the infirmary.”

Hongjoong frowned. “Alright, you can take my room then,” he said, “it’s not comfortable for you to sleep in the infirmary.”

“It’s not comfortable for you either,” Yeosang said softly, finally reaching for Hongjoong’s hand, “I haven’t forgiven you, but I’d rather be with you than be alone.”

Hongjoong’s widened. “Oh okay. Let’s go to bed,” he said. He hesitantly wrapped his hand around Yeosang’s. For the first time since Yeosang had come aboard, Hongjoong was afraid to sleep next to him.

Yeosang led Hongjoong below deck to his room. He dropped the captain’s hand when he got there and went to the wardrobe to change his clothes. He felt calm. Something during their conversation had shifted in him. It hurt that Hongjoong had slipped up and seen him as Kenta, but he understood why it happened. He could never ask the captain to not be in love with the older man anymore. He just had to trust that he wasn’t being seen as a replacement. He wasn’t sure that he was there yet, but he was sure he would be eventually.

Hongjoong climbed into bed, making sure to give Yeosang plenty of room. “I didn’t know you grew up on a ship,” he said quietly.

Yeosang hummed. “My father was a captain and a widower, so he had nowhere else to send me,” he said, “but he did dishonorable things, so I snuck off at a port when I was sixteen and joined the navy instead.”

“Wow,” Hongjoong whispered, “I’m sorry that happened. I can’t imagine how hard that was.”

“Last I heard, the navy caught him pillaging some towns to the east and arrested him,” Yeosang said with a shrug, “it certainly could have been worse. If I’d stayed, I’d be caught up in that instead of here.”

Hongjoong nodded. “It’s better to be with the navy than against them,” he said, “but I’m glad you’re here instead of caught up in that mess.”

“He wasn’t a terrible father,” Yeosang said, “I just couldn’t stomach what he was doing any longer. Not that the navy is much better, but at the time I believed they had to be.”

“He must have done something right when he was raising you considering you’re one of the most respectable people I’ve ever met,” Hongjoong said.

“Either something right or something really, really wrong, depending how you look at it,” Yeosang said, “but enough about that.” He finally settled in bed and laid on his side facing Hongjoong. 

“I think it was something right,” Hongjoong said. Out of habit, he wanted to wrap Yeosang in his arms and hold him close but tonight he knew he couldn’t.

Yeosang just hummed. “So vigilantes,” he said, “are you okay with that?”

“I think so. It doesn’t change who we are or what we do. It’s just a title,” Hongjoong said, “if it makes the crew happy, it makes me happy.”

“It means you have to be a bit nicer,” Yeosang pointed out.

“We’ll see how the crew changes after today,” Hongjoong said, “if they work better together and get along then I won’t have to be as tough on them. I think tonight is going to help them though.”

“I hope so,” Yeosang said, “you should try to actually talk to the kids too.”

“I don’t even know the first thing to say to them,” Hongjoong said, “I think it’s better for them to get close with Mingi.”

“Maybe start by engaging them at dinner or teaching them a task,” Yeosang said, “show them that you’re not scary.”

Hongjoong sighed. “I’ll try talking to them at dinner. I don’t want Jisu working that much with his side. The last thing that kid needs is an infection,” he said.

“Woonggi’s shoulder is still bothering him too,” Yeosang said, “Wooyoung and I will help them with chores for now and we’ll find things for them to do that aren’t too physically taxing.”

“Maybe I’ll talk to them about chilling out and not having to work. If they know I won’t get mad, maybe that’ll help,” Hongjoong said. He wasn’t sure if that would work though. He didn’t know the first thing about children.

“That might work,” Yeosang said, “I know you won’t like this, but it might help them to see you lose to Mingi. He’s the one they trust most now and once they see what you did to Yunho, it might help them to know that he could protect them from you, even though you have no plans to hurt them.”

Hongjoong pressed his lips together. “I’ve been meaning to spar with him to see if he’s able to defend himself. We can do that tomorrow. I’m sure he can beat me all on his own but we’ll see,” he said, “but I don’t want them knowing about my eye.”

“That’s probably a good idea,” Yeosang agreed, “they don’t need to know everything. They just need to know that being around you is safe.”

Hongjoong nodded. He rolled onto his back and let out a long breath. “Do you think it’s worth it?” he asked quietly, “to get the medal. I don’t want to put the crew through something so risky for something like that.”

“If we do it right,” Yeosang said, “I’d like to see it in your hands too.”

“I just think having something will help,” Hongjoong said quietly, “but it’s not worth losing any of my crew over.”

“The navy deserves to be taken down a notch,” Yeosang said firmly.

Hongjoong smiled sadly. “They do,” he said quietly, “I just wonder if I still stand a chance against them. I don’t fight the same anymore.”

“You just need to practice,” Yeosang said, “we have time, we’ll train your eye.”

“I was shocked when Seonghwa landed that blow,” Hongjoong admitted, “that’s never happened before in all the times we’ve sparred over the years.”

“And that’s fine, we’ll work through it,” Yeosang said, “by the time we get to the navy, you’ll be perfect again.”

Hongjoong cracked a small smile. “Again?” he asked, “you think I was perfect before this?”

“Well, not perfect, but close to,” Yeosang said, “you can’t beat me, but that’s okay.”

“Don’t jinx yourself,” Hongjoong said, “I may best you one of these days.”

“I look forward to it,” Yeosang said.

“You say that like you’re planning on being here for the long haul,” Hongjoong said quietly.

“I am,” Yeosang said, “this is home now.”

Hongjoong’s eyes widened. Even after everything, Yeosang wanted to stay. “That makes me really happy to hear,” he said softly.

“I still don’t know how I feel about us right now, but I do know that I’m not leaving,” Yeosang said.

“I understand. And it’s okay if you never know,” Hongjoong said, “I was thinking of building a wall in here and making this two rooms. That way you can have your own space if you need it. And it doesn’t hurt to have an extra room if you decide to stay with Wooyoung.”

“If that’s what you want to do,” Yeosang said, “I’m fine either way.”

“I just don’t want to make you uncomfortable if you have to stay in here,” Hongjoong said, “I’m sure this is a lot for you and that’s not fair. I hurt you and I know I can never fully repair what I’ve done but I want to do everything I can so that you’re happy and comfortable.”

“I am happy,” Yeosang said, “it’s just...weird.”

Hongjoong sighed softly. “Yeah it is,” he said quietly, “I just... I never thought he would impact my life like this. We weren’t together for that long when he left. I should have been able to get over him but for some reason I couldn’t. Sometimes I wish our roles were switched. He would have gone on to be happy and you all wouldn’t have had your lives ruined.”

“There are some people who are just that special,” Yeosang said, “they enter your life and they never leave.”

Hongjoong nodded. “He was so special,” he agreed, “you know how he could light up a room with just his smile. He loved everyone and he was so kind and unfailingly just. He deserved the world and no one could give it to him.”

“He did,” Yeosang said quietly, “he deserved to live and get old and have a full life.”

Hongjoong sniffed. “He really did,” he said shakily, “there was someone he was talking to back home before we got together. The guy knew how to talk the talk but he was a crook. Thankfully he was always good to Kenta from what I knew but Kenta didn’t know the stunts he would pull. Especially the ones against the vulnerable people in our town. I exposed him to Kenta and he dropped him immediately. His whole family loved him and begged Kenta to keep him but he wouldn’t. Sometimes I think I should have never stuck my nose in. He was so happy with that guy and I could have always kept an eye from a distance. He would have gotten his full life that way.”

“No he wouldn’t have,” Yeosang said, “that man’s crimes would have caught up to him eventually and Kenta would have gone down with him.”

“Kenta was smart. He would have found out something was up on his own,” Hongjoong said, “and he would have still been alive.”

“We can always sit and regret and wish things had been different, but that doesn’t change how things are,” Yeosang said.

“You’re right,” Hongjoong said quietly, “all we can do is learn from our mistakes. And I know I’ve hurt you in irreparable ways but I swear to you, Yeosang. I promise you with every cell in my body that I will not destroy your life like I destroyed his.”

“You didn’t destroy his life at all,” Yeosang said, “he loved you right to his last breath.”

Hongjoong closed his eyes. “I really don’t know what I did to deserve the time of day from him,” he admitted sadly, “and I still can’t believe how many letters he sent me. I wish I got more of them.”

“I wish there had been some way to save them,” Yeosang said quietly, “you deserved to read them.”

“I think they were interrupted when they got to my town,” Hongjoong said quietly, “his family hated me. I’m sure they took some of them and burned them. The only time I got any was when I went to the mail ship myself.”

Yeosang sighed. He didn’t know the captain before, but he couldn’t imagine why Kenta’s family hated him. It was clear that he loved the older man a lot.

“I don’t blame them,” Hongjoong continued, “Kenta deserved someone who actually had something to offer. Someone who had an education and potential. Not someone who was raised on the streets.”

“What Kenta deserved was someone who loved him for everything he was,” Yeosang said, “and you did. You do.”

“I did,” Hongjoong said shakily, “and I know it’s not healthy to hold onto him this much when it’s been years but I just feel so guilty. I should have done more to protect him. I don’t deserve to be happy while he’s dead.”

“I don’t expect you to ever get over him, Joong,” Yeosang said quietly, “it’s okay to still love him.”

"How? All I'm doing is hurting you!" Hongjoong forced out, "this is why I'm tough to people. I don't like getting attached because no matter what I do, I hurt the people I care about. Look at this ship. I've hurt every single person here. No matter what I do, I can't keep the people I love safe."

“Because that isn’t how human emotions work. That isn’t how trauma and grief works,” Yeosang said, “I don’t expect you to ever get over him or love him any less. I just need to know that you’re not with me for the illusion of having him again.”

"I was at first," Hongjoong said, "but you're not him and you never will be. And that's a good thing. Because you're you. And you make me happy. And it took me a while to learn that. I thought I was well on my way to proving how much I care and how sorry I am for hurting you and I'm not even close. I've never been so intimate and vulnerable with someone and I think my mind took me back to where I knew I was safe opening myself up. Which is not an excuse. It just shows me that I need to let myself trust you and I need to let myself be vulnerable with you. Because just because I lost him doesn't mean I have to lose you too."

“It’s gonna take me a bit to build back my trust in you,” Yeosang said, “I’ve never felt a hurt like that in my entire life.”

Hongjoong had to take a moment to form a response. "Take as much time as you need. I just want you to know that if you never regain that trust I won't be angry. I just want you to be happy," he said, "I'll do whatever it takes to rebuild that trust, you just have to promise you'll tell me if it's too much. I swear I'm not giving up on you but I'm done forcing people to do what I want."

“I’m glad to hear that,” Yeosang said with a small smile, “it’s really less about needing to trust you and more about not doubting you.”

“I understand,” Hongjoong said, “I’m hoping having his medal will give me the closure I need to move on for good. I know, deep down, that he would want me to be happy, but I don’t think I’ll ever feel like I deserve to.”

“Everyone deserves to be happy,” Yeosang said, scooting a bit closer to Hongjoong, “even grumpy pirate captains.”

“I’m not grumpy,” Hongjoong said with a pout, “and I’m not a pirate anymore.” That was weird to say. Hopefully he would get used to it soon.

“You’ll always be a grumpy pirate captain at heart though,” Yeosang said.

Hongjoong pouted more. “I guess so,” he grumbled. He really couldn’t argue there but he did turn his head so Yeosang couldn’t see his small smile.

“It’s endearing,” Yeosang added.

"Endearing?" Hongjoong asked with a raised eyebrow, "I don't think so."

“It is!” Yeosang insisted, “you’re the cute little grouchy captain!”

"No, I'm not!" Hongjoong protested, "I'm not cute and none of my crew would agree with you. I'm an asshole. Or well was I suppose."

“Yeah, but none of them see you how I do,” Yeosang said, “plus, you’re short, so.”

"Height has _nothing_ to do with it," Hongjoong said firmly, "Seonghwa is as close as you'll get and he won't agree."

“Well, I like cute things, so maybe being cute isn’t so bad,” Yeosang said.

Hongjoong frowned. "Yeosang, you're making me blush and I think the opposite of what needs to be happening right now," he said quietly.

“You can loosen up, you know,” Yeosang said gently, “we talked it out, we’re okay now.”

"I'm just trying to draw a line that's healthy for the both of us," Hongjoong said, "I don't want to hurt you more. I know sleeping here is hard enough. On top of the fact that I wish more than anything I could wrap you in my arms and kiss you senseless but I know I can't. I'm trying so hard to hold back and make this as painless as possible."

“I never said you couldn’t,” Yeosang said, “I know last night was rough, but something changed for me tonight. Watching you actually open up and talk about it and be vulnerable just...changed everything for me.”

Hongjoong turned and looked at Yeosang with wide eyes. In one fluid motion, he rolled onto his side and pulled Yeosang into his arms. "I'm so sorry," he choked out, "I don't know what came over me. I swear I'm trying and you have no idea how much I appreciate everything you've done for me. You're the only person I've ever met through this ship that I've trusted enough to be my true self around. And I know it's not completely me but it's more than you realize."

Yeosang hesitated with the words that were on his tongue. No. It was too early for that, and Hongjoong still had some proving to do. At least he finally understood what Wooyoung was feeling.

Hongjoong kept his grip loose enough so that Yeosang could pull away at any time. "Tell me what I can do," he requested quietly, "so that I can prove myself to you."

“You just need to keep being honest with me and showing me yourself and loving me,” Yeosang said, “I’ll get there as long as I know I have you.”

"I will. I swear I will. I need a little bit more time with the crew but I'll be better with you," Hongjoong promised, "you'll have me as long as you want me. And I swear I'm going to keep on loving you."

Yeosang smiled softly and finally let himself kiss Hongjoong again. It had only been a day but he missed it so much.

Hongjoong was shocked that Yeosang kissed him but he wasn't going to squander it. He cupped Yeosang's cheek with his hand and tilted his head ever so slightly. He put all of the feeling he had been holding back into this kiss. He wanted Yeosang to know just how much he cared.

Yeosang all but melted into the kiss. It had been a lonely and touch starved twenty four hours.

Hongjoong forced himself to back off and let Yeosang guide the kiss. The last thing he was going to do was push the younger man too fast. He still couldn't believe Yeosang had kissed him so soon.

Yeosang eventually pulled away from the kiss. “It’s late,” he said.

"Get some rest, Sang. I won't wake you up tomorrow morning," Hongjoong said quietly. He loosened his grip slightly and rolled onto his back, letting Yeosang decide how close he wanted to sleep.

Yeosang curled up with his head on Hongjoong’s arm and closed his eyes. “G’night, Joong,” he mumbled.

Hongjoong smiled softly. He let his head fall to the side and he closed his eyes. He didn't know what he had done to deserve Yeosang but he wasn't going to squander the kindness of the younger man. He drifted off to sleep thinking of something special he could do for Yeosang.


End file.
